“It was one thing for Donald Trump to pledge on the campaign trail that his plan for health care would assure that every American had coverage. He did so repeatedly, including during a town hall event in February 2016 at which he said his promise to ‘take care’ of everyone might sound as if he was talking about a single-payer system, but he wasn’t. ‘That’s not single-payer,’ he said. ‘That’s not anything. That’s just human decency.’
“It was another thing, though, for Trump to make similar claims after the election. Before the election, it was anything goes in a way that most politicians would avoid. Afterward, one might expect Trump to zero in on his preferences a bit more narrowly, to scrape away the rhetoric and describe, instead, what it was that he wanted to see.
“ ‘We’re going to have insurance for everybody,’ Trump told The Washington Post’s Robert Costa and Amy Goldstein during an interview less than a week before his inauguration. Although Trump was characteristically confident and equally characteristically light on specifics, he did outline several things that he anticipated the Republican replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act might include.
“The plan would have ‘lower numbers, much lower deductibles.’ The ‘philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it’? Trump insisted that ‘that’s not going to happen with us’ — implying that there would be universal coverage regardless of income. What’s more, people could ‘expect to have great health care’ that would be ‘in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better,’ ” according to the Washington Post.
Robert Reich:
Trumpcare breaks 8 of Trump's promises on health care:
1. He promised “insurance for everybody,” but under Trumpcare, 24 million Americans will lose coverage. (This was the CBO's analysis of the earlier House bill. Under the bill just passed, they didn’t even have the numbers.)
2. He promised not to cut Medicaid. Trumpcare slashes Medicaid by $880 billion over 10 years, almost one-fourth of its entire budget – causing 14 million people to lose access to health care by 2026 according to the CBO analysis of their earlier bill (this one has similar provisions).
3. He promised to take “care of pre-existing conditions.” Trumpcare removes safeguards for people with pre-existing conditions, allowing states to opt out of rules that protect the sick from being charged so much more they wouldn’t be able to afford it.
4. He said he’d “take care of women with women’s health issues far better than Hillary Clinton.” Trumpcare cuts funding for Planned Parenthood, could send pregnancy costs skyrocketing, and even opens the door for rape and sexual assault to be considered pre-existing conditions.
5. He promised premiums would come down. With Trumpcare, premiums are expected to increase over the next two years, especially for people with pre-existing conditions. According to the Center for American Progress, even Americans with relatively mild pre-existing conditions could pay thousands of dollars more.
6. He promised "you'll have better healthcare." Trumpcare allows states to get around rules that require insurers to provide essential health benefits, including maternal care, prescription coverage and mental health care.
7. He promised “much lower deductibles.” According to the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the original bill, “deductibles would tend to be higher” under Trump’s plan.
8. He promised health care to families that can’t afford it. Not only does Trumpcare dramatically cut Medicaid, it also reduces tax credits for low-income families to get coverage.
Trump’s healthcare promises are worse than worthless. Unless the Senate stops Trumpcare, it will cost most Americans a bundle. It will cost many people their lives.
This is not the health-care bill that Trump promised
By Philip Bump
