House Speaker Mike Johnson recently confirmed Donald Trump’s plans for a “massive” healthcare reformation, including potentially repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Trump and Republicans have long called for the repeal of ACA, often referred to as Obamacare. They’ve repeatedly failed to offer a viable replacement plan despite trying to repeal the act for over a decade. Trump has only vaguely promised to replace it with “much better healthcare.” He made a bid to kill the act during his first presidency. However, a plan for a partial repeal was shot down in Congress, while the Supreme Court also rejected his administration’s attempt to shut down the ACA during the pandemic. His plan would’ve caused premiums to skyrocket and left tens of millions of Americans uninsured. Trump’s plan has been opposed by Democrats and even some Republicans. Yet, he continues making promises to abolish the act.
While some may have dismissed Trump’s bold promises as mere talk, they became much more serious when Johnson seemingly confirmed the plan to eliminate Obamacare.
Mike Johnson outlines concerning plans for healthcare reform
Recently, Johnson spoke at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, where he touched on Trump’s healthcare plans. He teased that Trump has plans for a “very aggressive” healthcare overhaul, stating, “When I say we’re going to have a very aggressive first 100 days agenda, we got a lot of things still on the table.” One attendee asked, “No Obamacare?” Johnson confirmed, “No Obamacare.”
Even more concerning than his confirmation of Trump’s ACA overhaul plans is that he couldn’t provide a replacement plan. Johnson stated, “The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work, and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.” Similar to Trump, he’s making vague promises of “massive reform” and “a lot of ideas” instead of laying out details of a replacement plan. Given that Johnson mentioned the reform would be an aggressive undertaking in Trump’s first 100 days in office, Republicans need to be able to offer a replacement plan before striking down ACA. Ideas aren’t going to suffice when as many as 30 million Americans could be left uninsured 100 days into Trump’s presidency.
Given Johnson’s vague statements, it’s difficult to confirm whether he’s suggesting a whole or partial repeal of ACA. Even if Trump intends to resume his fight against the ACA, it doesn’t mean he will succeed. Unless Republicans gain control of the Senate and the House, Democrats would likely shoot down attempts to abolish the ACA. Still, the fact that Trump and Johnson are already discussing their “no Obamacare” plans is concerning. It’s a widely unpopular stance that would have grave consequences if successful, especially since Republicans have repeatedly failed to reassure the nation that they can provide a suitable alternative.
Published: Oct 30, 2024 12:12 pm