Impacts of Trump Presidency on Affordable Care Act

In 2010 under the Obama administration, the Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and it was introduced to the United States healthcare sector. The act was set to help improve the accessibility of health care and its affordability to the average American citizen.  American citizens who had pre-existing conditions could now be able to access health insurance. The healthcare reform act has helped more than 20 million Americans get better access to healthcare. The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has reduced the cost of healthcare. The Obamacare lowers the cost of health care in three ways.  It makes health insurance affordable through providing incentives and subsidies, emphasizes preventive care, and has helped improve the delivery of healthcare.  However, the act has received criticism from the current United States president Donald Trump. This paper serves to discuss the impacts that Trump presidency has had on the Affordable Care Act.

How does the presidency of Trump affect the Affordable Care Act?

According to an article by Page (2016, p.1), the ACA was passed to allow universal coverage of health care, and it provides support to Americans who are aiming to buy private insurance and further expands Medicaid. According to Page (2016, p.1), Medicaid is a program by the government to cover citizens with low incomes. The Trump presidency aims at replacing the reform law with new policies. Trump hopes to reduce the spending on Medicare by negotiating prices of drugs with the manufacturing companies. Trump aims at allowing the insurance companies to sell the health care policies to states.

The End of Obamacare

In the election period, there was uncertainty about the future of the ACA that caused an uproar in the U.S health policy. The act is not receiving support from the new Trump administration and the Republicans. According to Oberlander (2017, p.1), the act lacks an organized beneficiary lobby and strong public support. The ACA has encountered significant problems in its implementation and Oberlander (2017, p.2) states that the Obamacare act has received various opposition and is likely to receive more repeal under the Trump presidency. However, in the Senate, there are only fifty-one votes available for the Republicans, and they need sixty votes to pass the act out.

There exist various challenges for the Republicans to dismantle the health care reform. According to Oberlander (2017, p.2), only sections of the Obamacare can be repealed and not the entire law since sections such as the insurance market regulations are found to be sufficient for the United States health policy. The president has expressed interest in maintaining some of the reforms. Oberlander (2017, p.2) states that the Trump presidency will impact the Affordable Care Act by eliminating parts of the act that require individuals and large employers to acquire insurance coverage or they pay penalties if they do not.

The Affordable Care Act: Do No Harm

The Trump presidency and the Republican in the Congress are making efforts to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Dentzer, p.1). However, the healthcare practitioners should resist the efforts of the Trump administration since they are mandated to do no harm to their clients. According to Dentzer (2017, p.1), the act is not perfect in offering health care services, but through reforms, to the health reform law, the issues would be accurately addressed. The act faces a repeal from the Trump administration, and it is likely to be replaced.

What will Donald Trump’s presidency mean for health? A scorecard

In the article by McKee, Greer, and Stuckler (2017, p.1), the consequences of the Trump presidency to the ACA are difficult to predict since there exist uncertainty from the staff in the Trump administration. The views by the U.S. president on key issues are changing daily, and therefore they are difficult to predict the impact of his views on the law. According to McKee, Greer, and Stuckler (2017, p.1), changing the ACA would need skills which the current U.S president has no prior experience with the government operations. The actions of the president to make changes will be restricted by the U.S. Constitution and numerous checks and balances that have conveniently created a formal separation of powers. The ACA has been able to provide insurance to more than 20 million American citizens and has been able to achieve much progress for the health sector.

The Trump presidency is aiming to repeal and replace the healthcare reform law using health savings accounts, characterized by high deductibles, and the ability to roll forward unspent funds to future years (McKee, Greer, and Stuckler, p.2). The president has also proposed to retain some sections in the ACA such as coverage of pre-existing conditions and dependents up to age 26 years (McKee, Greer, and Stuckler, p.3). The Trump presidency possesses further threats to the ACA act with the nomination of nominees who are against the ACA act such as Tom Price who was selected as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. McKee, Greer, and Stuckler (2017, p.4) states that such nominees in the Trump administration would remove sections of the ACA that would lead to increased cost of coverage for health care especially for those on low incomes. The Republicans are also aiming at reforming the act.

Trump calls on Congress to replace ""unsustainable."" Affordable Care Act

McCarthy (2017, p.1) writes that President Trump has urged the Republicans and Democrats to work together to replace the Obamacare. President Trump has proposed some reforms to provide better healthcare, lower costs, increase access, and expand choices. According to Trump, the ACA has led to increased premiums and limited choice of plans on the insurance marketplaces. Trump urged the Congress to repeal the Obamacare as a move to help save Americans. According to McCarthy (2017, p.1), the act is important for the Americans as it had successfully provided insurance to 22 million people, including 500 000 in his home state. The number of people under the Obamacare would reduce greatly if replacements are made under the Trump presidency.

The Trump presidency is suggesting reforms that would help American to purchase coverage, expand the health savings accounts by covering the costs, give the states more control of Medicaid, and come up with health insurance plans that cover the disabled and the poor. In addition, the new reforms by the Trump presidency hope to offer a guarantee to people with pre-existing conditions that they will be able to obtain medical care coverage. In the article McCarthy (2017, p.1) states that Trump would help lower costs by supporting the sale of less comprehensive plans, which were previously not allowed under the Affordable Care Act. Trump presidency hopes to impact the ACA by lower the cost of health insurance to ensure affordable health care to every American.

Trump Signs Order Targeting Key Elements of Affordable Care Act

McCarthy (2017, p.1) states that President Donald Trump gave out an exclusive order which required federal agencies in his administration to proceed and take instant action obstruct, slow or stop the implementation of the Affordable Care Act that enacted a burden on Americans, health care providers, American States, and insurers. Trump wrote that it was the policy of his administration to seek the speedy cancellation of the Affordable Care Act. Repealing the Act would efficiently reduce the unwarranted regulatory and economic burdens brought forth by the Act, hence preparing the states to afford more control and flexibility to ensure a more open and free healthcare market.

Trump continuously said that he would repeal the law to the maximum extent permitted by law since full, repeal of the law required an Act of Congress (McCarthy, p.1). Basing on the fact that the Affordable Care Act grants federal officials a substantial margin in the implementation of the law, Trump's administration can use its regulatory powers to alter the law's impact considerably. Some of the actions that the Trump administration aims to undertake include insurers to trade plans devoid of some of the benefits authorized by the law, grant exemptions that could effectively eliminate the individual mandate besides granting renunciations to states to enable them to limit reimbursements provided to enrollees in Medicaid (McCarthy, p.1).

Republican Election Sweep is likely to spell end for US Health Reform Law

According to McCarthy (2016, p.1), the election win by Donald Trump gave him a chance to overturn major legislative achievements that were done by former U.S. president. Trump presidency aims to reform the Affordable Care Act. McCarthy (2016, p.1) states that even though the Republicans have not laid out specifics of the proposed replacement for the law, they will possibly not repeal the whole law. Republicans will seek to retain some positions of the law like the portion of the law that requires insurers to deliver coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions and also allow parents to cover their children on their insurance plan until the age of twenty-six.

McCarthy (2016, p.1) writes that Trump would substitute the law with new reforms that would make healthcare more accessible, affordable and also improve health care. Some of the reforms include the elimination of the mandate of the law. Trump leadership also favors changing the central funding of Medicaid, the health insurance plan for disabled and poor citizens, to block grants. Such grants reduce federal mandates that usually come with Medicaid funding hence giving the state governments more control over how the funds are spent.

Trump and Clinton Clash over Obamacare in second Presidential Debate

In the article by Lenzer (2016, p.1) Trump promised to revoke and replace the Obamacare with a solution that was less expensive. He argued that Obamacare was a disaster and that he would lower costs by increasing competition for example by getting rid of lines around the state and stop insurance companies from getting involved with the Obamacare and competing. This could also be achieved by blocking grants into the states. Trump emphasized that having a sole player plan would be a disaster just as the Canadian system. Trump purported that Obamacare was based on deception and cited comments made by Jonathan Gruber, a key player in shaping the act (Lenzer, p.1).

Conclusion

The Trump presidency means an end to many features in the Affordable Care Act. However, political and legal considerations have suggested that there would be some popular provisions that may survive such as the prohibition on the ability of a plan not to renew or cancel a policy based on the illness of the policy holders. Other provisions are the protection of children to be covered under the plans of their parents until they are 26 years of age and the prohibition on denial of coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions. The Americans have to patiently wait to see whether the Trump presidency and the members of the Congress will repeal the Obamacare over the next few months.

References

Dentzer, S. ""The Affordable Care Act: Do No Harm."" Annals of Internal Medicine. 166.6 (2017): 441-442. Print.

Lenzer, J. ""Trump and Clinton Clash Over Obamacare in Second Presidential Debate."" BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 355 (2016). Print.

McCarthy, M. ""Trump Calls on Congress to replace ""unsustainable"" Affordable Care Act."" BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 356 (2017). Print.

McCarthy, Michael. ""Trump Signs Order Targeting Key Elements of Affordable Care Act."" BMJ. 356 (2017). Print.

McCarthy, Michael. ""Republican Election Sweep Is Likely to Spell End for Us Health Reform Law."" BMJ. 355 (2016). Print.

McKee, M, S.L Greer, and D Stuckler. ""What Will Donald Trump's Presidency Mean for Health? A Scorecard."" The Lancet. 389.10070 (2017): 748-754. Print.

Oberlander, J. ""The End of Obamacare."" The New England Journal of Medicine. 376.1 (2017): 1-3. Print.

Page, L. ""What Donald Trump Would Do with the Us Healthcare System."" BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 353 (2016). Print.