Red, blue, and purple state governors slam Trump for sabotaging constituents' health care

The bipartisan rejection of Donald Trump’s policies continues at a record pace, with the National Governors Association (NGA) releasing a statement condemning his latest attempts to sabotage the health care markets.

The Trump White House recently said that they will end cost sharing payments to insurers, an unnecessarily cruel move that will do no good and only cause harm and chaos in insurance markets. Nonpartisan analyses predict this action will raise premiums by 25 percent, and add almost $200 billion to the deficit.

The NGA, representing governors from red, blue, and purple states and speaking with a “collective voice on national policy,” put out a blistering statement condemning Trump for abandoning his “fundamental responsibility” to ensure stability in the health care markets.

The statement went on to say that Trump’s boneheaded decision will create instability:

We are deeply concerned that the administration has declined to continue these payments, further increasing uncertainty for state marketplaces.

The NGA is chaired by Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval, who continues to speak out on his own about the havoc that this decision will bring about. “It’s going to hurt people. It’s going to hurt kids. It’s going to hurt families. It’s going to hurt individuals. It’s going to hurt people with mental health issues. It’s going to hurt veterans,” Sandoval declared. “It’s going to hurt everybody.”

And it is not only governors who are speaking out. The head of the American Medical Association, Dr. David O. Barbe, said that ending cost sharing subsidies will increase uncertainty, and that in the end, “Our patients will ultimately pay the price.”

There is bipartisan agreement in Congress that this move by the Trump administration will be harmful to constituents around the country.

Retiring Republican from Florida, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, noted that cutting the subsidies will create more uninsured constituents in her district.

Cutting health care subsidies will mean more uninsured in my district. @potus promised more access, affordable coverage. This does opposite.

— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) October 13, 2017

On the other side of the aisle, California Rep. Ted Lieu rightly called Trump’s actions spiteful.

Let's be clear: @realDonaldTrump is intentionally hurting millions of Americans out of spite. Premiums will spike 20% to 25%. #MAGA https://t.co/rK0ZMpibET

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) October 13, 2017

Trump’s actions are textbook self-fulfilling prophecy: He claims that Obamacare is failing, but it is not; in order for his words to be accurate, he must take actions that cause Obamacare to fail.

Therefore, Trump, when he is not golfing or rage-tweeting about whatever just happened on Fox News, is working to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. Through Executive Orders that weaken plans, anti-women policies that cut off access to birth control, and late-night decrees that will price millions of people out of coverage, Trump is determined to wreck one of the most successful social programs in generations.

And Republicans, Democrats, and independents are all speaking out loudly against his cruel actions.