Trump really doesn't want to talk about his health care record
Trump really doesn’t want to talk about his health care record
The uninsured rate is rising, and he has nothing to say about it.
By Matthew Yglesias
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/26/21037751/trump-snowflake-victory-health-care
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He has followed that up by pushing a variety of Medicaid waiver schemes to allow GOP-held states to restrict low-income families’ access to health care. His administration is particularly enthusiastic about work requirements that reduce coverage while doing nothing to encourage work. Work requirements in several states were put on hold by federal courts, but Trump is also remaking the federal judiciary and confirming sympathetic judges at a record pace. Consequently, he’s likely to ultimately prevail in this effort to reduce coverage.
Speaking of the courts, the Trump administration is also vigorously pursuing a lawsuit that, if successful, would toss out the entire Affordable Care Act.
That would entail a much more dramatic reduction in Medicaid coverage, plus the loss of subsidies for millions of Americans who buy coverage on the exchanges, plus the removal of critical regulatory protections for everyone who gets job-based insurance. GOP appointees on the Fifth Circuit Court seemed poised to give Trump what he wanted on this, then got cold feet just before Christmas. But they didn’t rule in favor of upholding the Affordable Care Act. Instead, they came up with some procedural delays that may have been designed to not do anything politically explosive until after the election.
The result of all this is that the uninsured rate in America is actually rising even though the labor market is getting stronger — a clear sign that health care remains an important policy area that won’t be fixed just by good generic economic conditions. And it’s a policy area where Trump is pursuing priorities — less insurance — that his own team has no defense for.
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