The Trump Administration is Gaslighting Americans By Trying To Take Credit For The Success of the ACA Despite Their Repeated and Ongoing Attempts to Destroy The Law
Washington, DC — Today, the Trump administration tried to take credit for the continued success of the Affordable Care Act, despite their efforts to sabotage and undermine the law at every turn and ongoing lawsuit to overturn it. In response, Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach released the following statement:
“The administration deserves zero credit for the success of the ACA. Their sabotage of open enrollment and relentless war on health care has meant far fewer insured Americans. The success of the ACA, despite Republicans best efforts to repeal it, shows that Americans want and need the affordable quality coverage the law provides. The ACA is delivering high quality insurance at lower prices, while the administration is pushing junk plans that allow insurance companies to charge more for less coverage.
“The ACA is succeeding despite the administration’s efforts to sabotage open enrollment by eliminating advertising and in person assistance. If it wasn’t for their repeated acts of sabotage, far more Americans would be covered today. The real story is the Trump administration’s lawsuit to repeal the ACA in its entirely, with a decision expected any day that would end the marketplaces, end open enrollment, and end all federal assistance for insurance premiums. They have moved from sabotage to nuclear war.”
BACKGROUND:
For more information on the Trump administration’s efforts to sabotage our health care, check out our Sabotage Tracker.
Census Data Revealed Almost 2 Million More Americans Uninsured In 2018. “About 27.5 million people, or 8.5 percent of the population, lacked health insurance for all of 2018, up from 7.9 percent the year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. It was the first increase since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, and experts said it was at least partly the result of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine that law.” [New York Times, 10/10/19]
Politico: Experts Said The Trump Administration’s Efforts To Undermine The Affordable Care Act To Blame For Rising Uninsured Rate. “The uninsured rate rose from 7.9 percent in 2017 to 8.5 percent last year, as experts said the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act were partly to blame…The numbers show that insurance gains under the health care law have stalled and are appearing to reverse as the Trump administration focuses on paring back the law’s insurance markets and shrink enrollment in safety net programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.” [Politico, 9/10/19]
The Washington Post: As Census Data Reveals Uptick In Uninsured, Health Care Experts Point To “Chilling Effect” From The Trump Administration’s Efforts To Restrict Medicaid Access. “Health policy experts interpreted those patterns as evidence of a chilling effect from the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict several forms of public assistance, including Medicaid for immigrants seeking to remain in the United States. In addition, the number of low-income Americans on Medicaid tends to decline when the economy expands, as it did last year, while some states have been clamping down on eligibility and following the administration’s urging to impose work requirements in the program.” [The Washington Post, 9/10/19]
Judy Solomon, A Senior Fellow For The Center On Budget And Policy Priorities Said Decline In Health Coverage “Certainly Reflects, At Least In Part, Trump Administration Policies To Weaken Public Health Coverage.” “‘In a period of continued economic and job growth, we shouldn’t be going backwards on health coverage,’ said Judy Solomon, a senior fellow for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. ‘This backsliding almost certainly reflects, at least in part, Trump administration policies to weaken public health coverage.’ She attributed the drop to the Trump administration making it harder for families to enroll for coverage in Medicaid by curtailing outreach efforts, allowing states to ask for more paperwork and proposing a so-called public charge rule that would make it harder for legal immigrants to get permanent resident status if they have received certain kinds of public assistance — including Medicaid.” [Kaiser Health News, 9/10/19]