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On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign released a report cautioning against former President Donald Trump’s plans for healthcare policy. Though he has not formally outlined specific proposals, the report noted previous comments from Trump and his vice presidential pick U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and previous actions he took when president — such as his FY2020 budget proposal that would have cut federal support for health care.
Some of Trump’s other actions as president illustrate his opposition to a long-debated topic between Republicans and Democrats: the Affordable Care Act.
Often referred to as “Obamacare” by its opponents, the ACA was a hallmark of former democratic president Barack Obama’s administration. The act established a public insurance marketplace and prevented insurance companies from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions.
On Trump’s first day as president in 2017, he issued an executive order to prompt its repeal. He also celebrated a repeal effort that passed the House before it failed in the Senate. In 2020 he also supported a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court that sought to tear down ACA.
Currently, over 20 million people utilize it nationwide and nearly 400,000 Virginians could pay more for their health insurance if the ACA were repealed.
As an example of what could be lost, the Harris campaign’s Virginia-based team used a Kaiser Family Foundation calculator tool to show how a middle class family based in Virginia Beach is currently eligible for about $9,000 per year as a premium tax credit to offset their coverage costs.
During his debate with Harris in early September, Trump said that he has “concepts of a plan” when it comes to health care policy if re-elected. He added that there are “concepts and options” for a cheaper system that he will outline in the “not-too-distant future.”
The report also takes aim at Trump’s “concepts” quote and the fact that he’s yet to fully articulate what his plans are.
“(Trump and Vance) may not want Americans to see the details of their plan, but Vice President Harris and Governor Walz won’t let them get away with hiding its effects,” Harris campaign senior policy advisor Brian Nelson said in a release.
But formal outlines should be on the horizon, Trump’s team said.
“As President Trump said, he will release more details, but his overall position on health care remains the same: bring down costs and increase the quality of care by improving competition in the marketplace,” Trump’s national campaign secretary Karolina Leavitt said in a statement.
The report was released ahead of a vice presidential debate on Tuesday where Harris’ running-mate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minnesota, will face off against Vance.
When pressed about their healthcare proposals on a recent episode of “Meet the Press,” Vance said “a lot of it comes down… to deregulating the insurance market so that people can choose a plan that actually makes sense for them.”
At a recent event in North Carolina, Vance also suggested a plan to separate patients into different health insurance pools based on individual risks.
Leavitt, of Trump’s campaign, accused Harris of showing “support for a socialist government takeover of our healthcare system that would force people off their private plans and result in lower quality care.”
The accusation stems from Harris’ previous co-sponsorship of a “Medicare For All” bill when still a U.S. Senator as well as her embrace of it during her 2019 bid for president. She has since moved away from that stance which has been popular with the more progressive wings of the Democratic party.
Harris’ recent health care proposals have included protecting the ACA and continuing price negotiations on medications that started as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, a measure for which she cast the tie-breaking vote to proceed. A price cap on insulin has emerged as a debate within a debate for Trump, as his administration had implemented a temporary cap on the drug while the Inflation Reduction Act made the cap law unless it is repealed by future congressional action.
The Harris-Walz campaign infers that Trump and Vance’s “message to America is: ‘you’re on your own.’”
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