Andrew Trunsky, - Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have touted health care plans that they say will protect preexisting conditions and lower drug prices, but their plans share little in common.
- Trump’s plan relies on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, which has been a goal of Republicans since it was signed into law. While Trump says that his plan will put “patients and doctors back in charge of the health care system,” he has refused to elaborate on its details when pressed on multiple occasions.
- Biden’s plan, which he referred to as “Bidencare” during the final presidential debate Thursday, is centered on improving and expanding the Affordable Care Act, largely by creating a public option that will be available for all who choose to enroll under it.
Throughout the 2020 election, Americans have consistently listed health as one of — if not the most — important issues at hand.
In August, a Pew Research survey found that 68% of voters thought that health care was “very important” when casting their vote, and in earlier this month, 80% of voters said the same in response to a Gallup survey.
Though both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have repeatedly promised health care plans that will lower costs and protect preexisting conditions, their approaches share little in common.
Here is what each candidate has said about health care during the 2020 presidential campaign and what their goals would be if they win November’s election.
Donald Trump
The president’s health care plan centers on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. His administration and congressional Republicans first tried to do so when they attempted to pass the American Health Care Act in 2017, which fell one vote short in the Senate.
Trump’s website includes the goals of lowering prescription drug prices and insurance premiums, covering preexisting conditions and protecting social security and Medicare its goals for a potential second term, it also emphasizes prioritizing private insurance that will put “patients and doctors back in charge of the health care system.”
Trump has attempted to lower drug prices via a series of executive orders signed earlier in 2020, including ones that facilitated the importation of drugs from Canada and expanding Medicare and Medicaid services, including telehealth, to rural areas.
Despite his promises, Trump has been unable to describe his proposed plan in detail on multiple occasions. During an ABC News town hall in September, he declined to outline his plan in greater detail when pressed, instead repeatedly asserting that the Affordable Care Act as is “too expensive.”
During an unedited “60 Minutes” interview that his campaign released Wednesday, Trump failed to describe his plan in detail when pressed by Lesley Stahl.
“You promised that there was going to be a new health care package. You said that it was going to be great,” Stahl said, before adding that nobody outside of the administration has seen it.
“It is fully developed, it is going to be announced soon when we see what happens with Obamacare, which is not good,” Trump said. “It will be much less expensive than Obamacare, which is a disaster, and it will take care of people with preexisting conditions.
The Trump administration is also supporting the plaintiffs in Texas v. California, who are hoping that the ACA gets thrown out by the Supreme Court. Democrats warn that if successful, over 100 million Americans with preexisting conditions could lose their health coverage.
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