Former President Trump has hinted at a new take on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sparking questions about its meaning for healthcare. With recent criticisms in the mix, folks are wondering what changes could be on the horizon. Here’s the full story.
Trump’s ACA Pivot
Trump has confirmed in a social media post that he is no longer gunning for the Affordable Care Act’s destruction. Instead, he wants to “MAKE THE ACA, or OBAMACARE, AS IT IS KNOWN, MUCH BETTER, STRONGER, AND FAR LESS EXPENSIVE.”
Trump’s words were prompted after Biden spoke at length about healthcare at a rally in North Carolina. Biden accused “Trump and his MAGA friend in Congress” of wanting to “get rid of the ACA, “a claim that Trump denied.
In an error-laden post, Trump explained, “I’m not running to terminate the ACA, AS CROOKED JOE BUDEN DISINFORMATES AND MISINFORMATES ALL THE TIME.”
From Repeal to Reform
Trump added that he wants to “MAKE THE ACA MUCH, MUCH, MUCH BETTER FOR FAR LESS MONEY (OR COST) TO OUR GREST AMERICAN CITIZENS, WHO HAVE BEEN DECIMATED BY BIDEN, HIS RECORD INFLATION, BAD ECONOMY, AFGHANISTAN CATASTROPHE, AND JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE.”
This is a departure from the former president’s previous stances. At a 2016 rally, Trump stated, “We’ll be terminating Obamacare, and we’ll be replacing it with so many different options, but you’ll have great health care at a fraction, a fraction of the cost, and it’ll be great.”
Healthcare Contradictions
He brought This pledge back in 2017 when he told The Washington Post, “We’re going to have insurance for everybody.” In 2019, Trump claimed, “If we win the House back, keep the Senate, and keep the presidency, we’ll have a plan that blows away ObamaCare.”
And then again, in 2020, Trump was talking about his replacement for the ACA, which would offer “great healthcare at a lesser price, and preexisting conditions will be included, and you won’t have the individual mandate.”
Most recently, Trump wrote in December that “Obamacare is too expensive, and otherwise, not good healthcare. I will come up with a much better, and less expensive, alternative! People will be happy, not sad!”
So naturally, Trump’s new remarks have raised a few eyebrows.
A New Direction
Endorsing the ACA while saying he’ll work to make it even better is a far cry from repealing it and implementing his own brand of Trumpcare. Repealing Obamacare was a key promise in his 2016 campaign, but it was one that Trump was unable to fulfill as the Supreme Court resisted all of his efforts.
At the time, the ACA was a popular policy that helped millions of Americans get healthcare.
Record Enrollment Numbers
The ACA is more popular than ever. In 2024, 21 million people signed up for coverage—a record number. Last year saw 16 million people sign up, so 2024 seems to be on track to be the ACA’s busiest year ever. Biden’s team says that over 45 million people are enrolled in coverage through the ACA.
Biden this week introduced legislation to begin rolling back a Trump-era policy of short-term health insurance plans, which he calls “junk insurance.” This is part of Biden’s concentrated effort to lower healthcare costs, and it will limit the duration of these plans to only three months.
People will be able to renew these plans, but only for a maximum of four months, and it mandates that insurers inform people buying these plans on how to find more extensive coverage.
Biden vs. Trump on Short-Term Health Plans
Trump had widened the scope of these plans when he was in power, allowing people to purchase year-long policies and renew them for up to 36 months.
Short-term health insurance plans were controversial because they weren’t bound by Obamacare’s consumer protections. This meant they didn’t have to offer comprehensive coverage and could discriminate against people with preexisting conditions.
They were cheaper alternatives to the ACA plans and had lower premiums, although this limited the benefits they provided.
Biden’s team is of the opinion that short-term health insurance “misled consumers into thinking they are buying real health insurance. Then when people need medical care, they found out their plans cap their benefits, that their care is related to a preexisting condition, that their care just isn’t covered at all.” They called it a “scam” that “really hurt consumers.”
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