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What Did Trump Do To Obamacare

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Less Coverage And Higher Costs: The Trumps Administrations Health Care Legacy

Republicans’ bid to repeal Obamacare ends with a surprise

The president has failed to deliver on his promises to take care of everybody.

Courts and the Affordable Care Act

During his 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump repeatedly said he was for insurance for everybody and promised to take care of everybody and to lower costs. Almost four years later, the Trump administrations record falls far short of these promises: The number of uninsured Americans has swelled, his administration has chipped away at the consumer protections guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act , costs have risen for Americans with marketplace plans, and the nation is mired in a public health crisis.

The wake of one of the administrations most destructive health care policies may trail far beyond this term of his presidency. The health care repeal lawsuit that he helped advance to the U.S. Supreme Court could invalidate the entire ACA next spring, ending coverage for more than 20 million Americans, driving up costs for those seeking to buy coverage on their own, and eliminating consumer protections for millions of people with preexisting conditionsall in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Us Supreme Court Rejects Trump

WASHINGTON, June 17 – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a Republican bid backed by former President Donald Trump’s administration to invalidate Obamacare, preserving the landmark healthcare law for the third time since its 2010 enactment.


The 7-2 ruling declared that Texas and other challengers had no legal standing to file their lawsuit seeking to nullify a law, formally called the Affordable Care Act, that has enabled millions of Americans to obtain medical coverage either through public programs or private insurers. The decision was authored by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer.

The justices did not decide broader legal questions raised in the case about whether a key Obamacare provision was unconstitutional and, if so, whether the rest of the statute should be struck down. The provision, called the “individual mandate,” originally required Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a financial penalty.

“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision is a major victory for all Americans benefiting from this groundbreaking and life-changing law,” said Democratic President Joe Biden, whose administration opposed the lawsuit.

With three major challenges to Obamacare now having been resolved by the justices, Biden added, “it is time to move forward and keeping building on this landmark law.” Biden also encouraged more Americans to use Obamacare to obtain coverage.

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. May 17, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo


Why Trump Abandoned His Plan To Replace Obamacare

President Trump collided with political reality this week, and reality won.

I’m not talking about the border crisis or the Mueller probe. This is about health care.

When the president proclaimed, seemingly out of nowhere, that the Republicans would be the party of health care, the media said he had taken on an impossible task. And as members of his party scrambled to distance themselves from the idea, it turned out the press was right.

In a series of tweets Monday night, Trump tried to extricate himself from his vow.

“Trump Retreats on Health Care,” said The New York Times. “Trump Punts,” said The Washington Post.


The president framed it as a mere delay. He said that “everybody agrees that ObamaCare doesnt work” well, not everyone and that the Republicans are “developing a really great HealthCare Plan with far lower premiums & deductibles than ObamaCare.”

BUT … the vote “will be taken right after the Election when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House.”

The obvious implication is that Trump himself will have been safely reelected. And just as obvious is that the GOP may not regain full control of the government, making the promise moot.

The Times reports that “some of the president’s senior advisers” pushed for the administration to join a Texas lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Obama law .

Dr. Siegel: ObamaCare isn’t going away. Here’s how we can fix it

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Passage Of House Bill Revives Effort To Supplant Obamacare

Just six weeks after House Republicans pulled a bill to substantially overhaul the the nation’s health care system, they successfully — if narrowly — passed a revised version of the measure.

On May 4, 2017, the House passed a the bill by a 217-213 margin.

Republican leaders adjusted the bill following negotiations with both the conservative and moderate wings of the party.

The revised bill would do several things.

It would end subsidies provided to people who buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplaces, replacing them instead with tax credits. It would repeal several taxes imposed under the ACA that primarily hit high-income taxpayers. It would allow states to obtain waivers to some requirements of the Affordable Care Act, including the “essential health benefits” provision that requires maternity care or mental health services. And it would curb further expansion of Medicaid that had been allowed under the Affordable Care Act, as well as eventually capping Medicaid expenditures in ways that would effectively end its status as an entitlement.


According to the Congressional Budget Office, the original version of the bill would have increased the number of uninsured people by 24 million by 2026. The changes made before passage might change that number, but the specific impact awaits a new score by CBO, which is expected in the coming days.

Democrats See A Winning Issue

Cher on Twitter: " If trumpcare(ð¤£oxymoron)ISâ? BIGGEST,CHEAPEST,BEST,MOST ...

Democrats are confident that they have history on their side. In an election memo from the Democratic campaign committees in May, party officials noted that the party experienced tremendous electoral success in 17, 18 and 19 by running on health care and argued that Republicans at all levels own this lawsuits attack on Americans health care.

Democrats in House and Senate races vowed on Friday to make health care an issue and tried to tie their GOP opponents to efforts to dismantle the law a tactic Democrats used against GOP incumbents in the 2018 midterms regardless of whether they voted to repeal it.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican facing one of the toughest reelection races in the country, criticized the administrations decision to file the brief this week. Her aides noted that she sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr in May of 2019 urging him to defend the health care law, and she said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration came to the wrong conclusion about congressional intent when members included the individual mandate repeal in the tax law.

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Trumpcare/american Healthcare Act/better Care And Reconciliation Act Summary

The latest version of TrumpCare, with all the changes to the Better Care Reconciliation Act and provisions from the American HealthCare Act , AKA TrumpCare phase 1 contains provisions that:

First, the American HealthCare Act made the following changes (most of which the BCRA keeps items the BCRA changed are crossed out

The Senate Bill that is Replacing the House Bill does everything noted above with a few changes, they are:

  • There is a 6 month waiting period if you want to reenter the market after not having coverage for more than 63 days ,
  • Further reduces Medicaid spending,
  • Tax credits are based on age and income from 0% 350% FPL .
  • Cost Sharing Reduction subsidies are approved until 2019 on a per-month basis .

Then the latest July 13th update to the Better Care Reconciliation Act makes a few changes that include:

NOTES: Immediately following the July 13th version a few more changes were made. The bill now also includes the Ted Cruz Amendment which allows insurers to sell inexpensive plans to consumers that include basic coverage up to an annual cap . This amendment is likely to bring down average premiums considerably, but it does this by allowing insurers to sell low-benefit, low-cost, plans with annual limits. So there is a trade-off there.


The CBO estimates for uninsured under the BCRA.

Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court To Strike Down Affordable Care Act

If successful, the move would permanently end the health insurance program popularly known as Obamacare and wipe out coverage for as many as 23 million Americans.

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By Sheryl Gay Stolberg

WASHINGTON The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court late Thursday to overturn the Affordable Care Act a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance program popularly known as Obamacare and wipe out coverage for as many as 23 million Americans.

In an 82-page brief submitted an hour before a midnight deadline, the administration joined Republican officials in Texas and 17 other states in arguing that in 2017, Congress, then controlled by Republicans, had rendered the law unconstitutional when it zeroed out the tax penalty for not buying insurance the so-called individual mandate.


The administrations argument, coming in the thick of an election season as well as a pandemic that has devastated the economy and left millions of unemployed Americans without health coverage is sure to reignite Washingtons bitter political debate over health care.

In his brief, Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco argued that the health laws two remaining central provisions are now invalid because Congress intended that all three work together.

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Gop Senators Announce Final Chance For Obamacare Repeal

On the same day that Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a single-payer health care bill, four senators on the Republican side of the aisle unveiled what they called their last attempt to roll back portions of the Affordable Care Act.


The bill, spearheaded by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., would replace federal funding currently being spent on Medicaid expansion, tax credits and subsidies with block grants, which state leaders could decide how to allocate. It would also end the medical device tax as well as Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates.

Graham, in reference to Obamacare repeal efforts, told congressional Republicans during a Sept. 13 press conference, “This is your best and only chance to make it happen.”

To pass the bill, the senators face a fleeting window of time. A temporary process that Republicans have been relying on to advance health care legislation in the Senate with 50 votes rather than the usual 60 votes will end on Sept. 30.

That process didn’t quite work on July 28, when a bill to repeal portions of Obamacare died on the Senate floor after Republican Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against it.

President Donald Trump applauded the new bill in a statement released after the press conference.

The bill is not a full repeal of Obamacare.

It is not yet clear if the bill has enough votes to pass the Senate, so for now we continue to rate this promise Stalled.

Obamacare: Has Trump Managed To Kill Off Affordable Care Act

Obamacare in Trump country

‘Trump not thinking about the little people’

The Trump administration has ramped up its attack on the Affordable Care Act by backing a federal judge’s decision to declare the entire law unconstitutional.

For now, Obamacare is still standing. Around 4.1 million Americans have signed up for new plans so far this year, according to government reports, down 12% from last year.

At a rally this week, Mr Trump again promised his supporters: “We are going to get rid of Obamacare.” But how much has he delivered on that pledge so far?

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Sabotage Watch: Tracking Efforts To Undermine The Aca

President Trump said that, politically, the best thing to do would be to let the Affordable Care Act explode. This timeline tracked Trump Administration actions to sabotage the ACA by destabilizing private insurance markets or reversing the laws historic gains in health coverage.

For a graphic summarizing administration actions against the Affordable Care Act,

Shortly after President Trumps inauguration, he issues an executive order directing federal agencies to use their administrative powers begin dismantling the Affordable Care Act to the maximum extent permitted by law. The order instructs agencies, for example, to do what they can to grant exemptions or delay implementation of ACA provisions that impose a tax, fee, or other costs and to encourage development of a free and open market in health care services among states, while Congress works to pass repeal legislation.

The Administration announces that it will stop planned ads for the final week of open enrollment for marketplace health coverage.

After running ahead of 2016 enrollment totals through mid-January, final 2017 HealthCare.gov plan selections come in slightly below 2016.

Administrations first health care rule is billed as market stabilization, but would discourage enrollment and undermine market stability by making plans less affordable.

Health Plan Benefit, Rate Review, Management, and Oversight 51

Mandate Rollback Not A Repeal Of Obamacare But It May Undermine It

The Republicans’ successful drive to pass a massive tax bill allowed President Donald Trump to take another slice off of the Affordable Care Act. Effective 2019, the sweeping tax package repeals the penalty on people who might be able to afford health insurance but choose not to buy it. The individual mandate affects a relatively narrow sliver of Americans, but it has been a pillar of Obamacare.

The mandate was the stick to herd more people — healthy people — into the insurance pool. That would spread the risk, keep premiums down and produce a stable insurance market.

Fundamentally, it was the evil twin of a very popular feature of the health care law — guaranteed coverage of people with pre-existing conditions. The deal was that if the government is going to force insurance companies to cover everyone, then it must deliver a big insurance pool with a lot of people who won’t rack up medical bills. The mandate plays a similar role with the Affordable Care Act’s community rating rules, which prevent the insurance companies from charging sick people more than healthy people.

Last year, about 6.5 million households paid the penalty . In a Nov. 13 tweet, Trump called the mandate unfair and highly unpopular and urged the Senate to add repeal to its tax package. Trump got what he wanted.

Eliminating it does no favors for Obamacare’s goal to get more people covered at a price they can afford.

Email interview, Christine Eibner, senior economist, RAND Corp.,Dec. 19, 2017

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Trump Calls Democrats ‘losers’ After Gop Health Bill Failure

Trump’s campaign website noted the promise in clear terms, saying, “On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.”

At a speech in St. Augustine, Florida on Oct. 24, he vowed to repeal the current health care law as a part of his “contract with the American voter.”

“It’s a set of promises for what I’ll do in my first 100 days. It includes getting rid of immediately Obamacare, which is a disaster,” said Trump.

The line referencing an “immediate””repeal and replace” was a staple of his stump speech, appearing regularly throughout an ABC News review of transcripts from Trump’s primary and general election campaign events.

“My first day in office, I am going to ask Congress to put a bill on my desk getting rid of this disastrous law and replacing it with reforms that expand choice, freedom, affordability,” said Trump on Oct. 25, a day after he St. Augustine speech, in Sanford, Florida. “You’re going to have such great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost. And it’s going to be so easy.”

Then, just a week before the election in early November, Trump tied the success of a health care effort to his party’s ability to maintain the majority in the House and Senate, which the GOP was able to accomplish.

A campaign press release on the speech doubled down on the promise in its title: “Donald J. Trump pledges to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare.”

What About ‘medicare For All’

Up Close, with Peter Sage: Trump to Obamacare: " You

Growing numbers of liberal Democrats are coalescing around a universal healthcare plan proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

He advocates expanding Medicare, the US government’s medical coverage programme for pensioners, to all Americans.

Mr Sanders’ idea – Medicare for All – would provide healthcare for everyone free of charge. He says it would be funded by higher taxes.

Conservatives say the idea would bankrupt the country, but supporters say Americans would save by avoiding the opaque medical fees they currently face, such as insurance premiums, co-payments, deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses.

A study by the free-market Mercatus Center found Medicare could cost the federal government more than $32tn over the course of a decade.

The same research also estimated the plan could save the country $2tn over the same period – but only if healthcare providers accepted a 40% drop in payment rates.

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Why Do Conservatives Oppose The Law

Republicans say it imposes too many costs and regulations on business, with many describing it as a “job killer”. However, since the implementation of Obamacare jobs in the healthcare sector, at least, rose by 9% and a 2017 study found that around 2.6 million jobs could be lost by 2019 if it is repealed.

Conservatives have also baulked at Obamacare’s rule requiring most companies to cover birth control for free.

The Trump administration tried to put in place new guidelines for organisations to opt out on moral grounds last year, but two federal judges blocked the move.

During the Obama presidency, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives took dozens of symbolic votes to repeal the law and provoked a partial government shutdown over the issue.

After repeated legal challenges, in 2012 the US Supreme Court declared Obamacare constitutional.

Despite having a majority on Capitol Hill under President Trump, a Republican repeal bid failed in dramatic fashion in 2018.

Democratic leaders have acknowledged Obamacare is not perfect, and have challenged Republicans to work with them to fix its flaws.

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