Trump brags he will 'terminate' health care for 20 million people

Trump couldn’t be happier about his ploy to rip health care away from 20 million Americans.

On Wednesday afternoon, he bragged to reporters that the first phase of his scheme “terminates Obamacare.” He was referring to the Monday court filing by his Department of Justice seeking to get rid of the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.

Trump also repeated his nonsensical claim that the Republican Party will be “the party of health care,” which he started saying soon after his administration ramped up their efforts rip away health care from families across the country.

If Trump succeeds, the number of uninsured Americans will go up by nearly 20 million, according to a March 2019 analysis by the Urban Institute. The state-by-state analysis shows the rate of uninsured people would skyrocket in some states, including a 176 percent increase in West Virginia and a 151 percent increase in Kentucky.

Despite the damage he wants to cause, Trump is excitedly moving forward with his all-out assault on the ACA even though some of his Cabinet members warned him it was a terrible idea.

And contrary to what Trump claimed to reporters, there is no evidence that Republicans have any health care plan to implement if they succeed in destroying the ACA. The last time Republicans tried, their plan would have resulted in millions of people losing health care, higher premiums for those who could still afford it, and taking away the guaranteed protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

While Trump wants to destroy the health care system, voters overwhelmingly say they want to strengthen and improve the current health care law. In a new poll, even Republicans would rather strengthen the current law than destroy it.

Trump’s reckless behavior is threatening to undo every single aspect of the ACA, including wildly popular provisions such as protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance.

In addition, the American Cancer Society warns that Trump is endangering the lives of cancer patients.

Without the protections in the ACA, “cancer patients could be forced to delay or forego care completely leading to life-threatening consequences,” the group said.

The American Hospital Association piled on, calling Trump’s decision, “misguided” and adding a warning that if Trump succeeds “protections for people with chronic and pre-existing conditions would cease to exist.”

In the 2018 midterms, the Republican attempt to sabotage health care was a major issue across the country, helping Democrats make historic gains in the House of Representatives.

Trump’s comments and actions only remind everyone that the Republican Party will fight every day — in Congress and in the courts — to take away health care from as many Americans as they can.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.