Affordable Care Act
Trump's position paper on health care reform and the ACA
Timeline
| 2016.05.04 | What Trump says his presidency would look like, including a wall design, an immigration ban on Muslims, an audit of the Federal Reserve, and plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act by the end of his First 100 Days. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Mexico Wall, Mexico) |
| 2016.11.18 | Trump's top adviser Jared Kushner's brother, Josh, founds the health care startup Oscar, which makes money on the state exchanges for individual insurance established by the Affordable Care Act. huffingtonpost.com (See also Jared Kushner, Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2016.11.28 | The potential impact of Trump's First 100 Days on health care scientificamerican.com (See also First 100 Days) The president-elect could initiate a massive transformation of health care—including birth control funding. But without a replacement plan ready, lawmakers may hesitate to repeal Obamacare |
| 2016.12.20 | The Wall Street Journal reports on the impact of Trump's win on many rural counties that voted for him and where uninsured rates have dropped dramatically under ACA. blogs.wsj.com |
| 2016.12.22 | Enrollment in health insurance plans under the ACA was 6.4 million, up 400,000 from last year; states with the most people selecting coverage all voted for Trump. abcnews.go.com |
| 2017.01.09 | Five moderate Senators break with GOP to try to delay ACA repeal until a replacement is fleshed out. bloomberg.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2017.01.11 | Congress is likely to prioritize repealing the Affordable Care Act, tax reform, infrastructure, reversing Obama regulations, and immigration during Trump’s first 100 days thehill.com (See also First 100 Days, Infrastructure, Immigration) |
| 2017.01.13 | Asian Americans express fears about the Trump administration at an Asian Americans Advancing Justice panel in Orange County, CA. ocregister.com (See also Asian Americans, Immigrants, Health Care) |
| 2017.01.13 | House Speaker Paul Ryan says in a town hall meeting that the ACA is “collapsing,” but enrollment in ACA plans for 2017 is running well ahead of the figure for 2016. latimes.com (See also Paul Ryan) |
| 2017.01.15 | GOP Congressman Mike Coffman holds an Obamacare Q&A at a library in his home district and 150 people show up; he leaves early, and reportedly through the back door. teenvogue.com |
| 2017.01.20 | Trump signs executive order instructing heads of executive agencies to cooperate as fully as possible while the Affordable Care Act is repealed. pbs.twimg.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.01.22 | Experts say the effect of Trump's executive order on the ACA is unclear, but that it could undermine the stability of health insurance markets medpagetoday.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.01.22 | With executive order, Trump moves swiftly to unwind as many elements of the Affordable Care Act as possible. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) Practical implications are hard to decipher however. |
| 2017.01.25 | This is a transcript of ABC News anchor David Muir’s interview with President Trump. abcnews.go.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico Wall, NAFTA, Trade, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, DACA, Voter Fraud, James Mattis, Mike Pompeo, Iraq, Infrastructure, Muslim Immigration Ban) This is a transcript of ABC News anchor David Muir’s interview with President Trump on Jan. 25, 2017. |
| 2017.01.26 | Presidential historians agree that Trump's executive orders do little more than advance Trump's main policy goals. Instead, it will be up to the president’s Cabinet officials and Congress to follow through on most of the actual policymaking. newsweek.com (See also First 100 Days, Mexico Wall, Muslim Immigration Ban) |
| 2017.01.26 | The White House orders federal health officials to halt all advertising and outreach activities for critical last days of 2017 ACA enrollment period. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Health and Human Services) Supporters of the health-care law accused Trump of cynically undermining its marketplaces. |
| 2017.01.26 | White House abruptly halts Obamacare ads according to sources at DHS and on Capitol Hill politico.com (See also First 100 Days, Department of Health and Human Services) |
| 2017.01.30 | American people living with HIV/AIDS who get their healthcare through Obamacare, Medicaid, Medicare or Ryan White -- or some combination of these programs -- are rightly scared about what is going to happen to their coverage amid Trump's and Republican's plans to repeal Obamacare and remake Medicare and Medicaid. thebody.com (See also LGBTQIA) |
| 2017.02.02 | After promising immediate repeal and replacement, top Republicans are wavering in public on how to do so. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.02 | US president describes a world ‘in trouble’ in speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, amid a growing number of disputes with foreign leaders theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Muslim Immigration Ban, Australia, Mexico, Johnson Amendment, Attacks on Civil Liberties, LGBTQIA, Department of the Treasury, Russia, Yemen, Iran, Mike Pence) |
| 2017.02.04 | Obamacare supporters show up in huge numbers to voice concerns over repeal during Republicans town halls. politico.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.06 | Trump and his Republican allies are rapidly recasting their ambitions for a rapid-fire repeal, with many lawmakers facing tough questions from constituents. mobile.nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.06 | Trump voters will be hit the hardest by his promises on dismantling the Affordable Care Act and embarks on trade wars with Mexico and China. nbcnews.com (See also First 100 Days, Trade) |
| 2017.02.07 | A survey finds one-third of people surveyed don’t know Obamacare and Affordable Care Act are the same thing, especially among groups most likely to be affected by the repeal of the health law. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Assaults on Facts) |
| 2017.02.09 | Republican Senator Mike Lee admits GOP health plan must remain secret because people would probably rather keep Obamacare. nymag.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.09 | Republicans in Idaho tried to design a better plan than Obamacare — and failed washingtonpost.com |
| 2017.02.10 | Tom Price, who has campaigned relentlessly to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and his nomination process has also been plagued by allegations of insider trading, is confirmed as US health secretary. theguardian.com (See also First 100 Days, Tom Price, Department of Health and Human Services) |
| 2017.02.13 | Hardliners are set to demand that leadership move to repeal the Affordable Care Act now, even if that means a replacement has to wait. politico.com |
| 2017.02.15 | The Trump Administration is taking its first steps to put its imprint on the Affordable Care Act, reversing plans to withhold tax refunds this year from Americans who flout an insurance requirement in the law. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Taxes) |
| 2017.02.16 | A Michigan-based health care analyst creates chart that breaks down the number of people who could potentially lose insurance after a full repeal of Obamacare by congressional district, so people can get a sense of the impact in their own community. time.com |
| 2017.02.22 | A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows 45 percent of registered voters approve of Obamacare and 45 percent disapprove as compared to 52 percent disapproval before Trump took office. politico.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.23 | At rowdy town halls, Republicans contradict their past statements on Obamacare and distance themselves from Trump’s agenda. washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.23 | The votes needed to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a robust replacement are now just as hard to reach in the House as the Senate. nytimes.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.23 | Vice President Mike Pence defends Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and tells CPAC attendees that "America’s Obamacare nightmare is about to end." washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days, Mike Pence) |
| 2017.02.24 | According to two new surveys, support for Obamacare is at an all-time high, as Republican leaders continue to press the case for repeal amid fierce resistance at many town halls. cnn.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.24 | As new details of the GOP plan emerge, Republican lawmakers expect their Obamacare replacement will result in fewer Americans covered by health insurance, a fact that’s likely to increase blowback amid growing support for the program. bloomberg.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.27 | At a meeting with health insurance CEOs, Trump urges them to work together to "save Americans from Obamacare". washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.03.08 | Top U.S. doctors' organization and several hospital groups come out strongly against a Republican plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.03.10 | The GOP plan backed by Trump to overhaul the Affordable Care Act clears its first hurdles in Congress, but its chances for passage look uncertain and top Republicans are scrambling to bring disgruntled conservatives aboard. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.03.13 | Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and White House Budget Director Mike Mulvaney react to the Congressional Budget Office's estimate on the Republican health care bill, saying the CBO "has it wrong." c-span.org (See also Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, Mick Mulvaney) |
| 2017.03.14 | At least a dozen Republican senators, alarmed by a nonpartisan report showing millions would lose insurance under the GOP healthcare plan, warn that the bill wouldn’t become law without fundamental changes. wsj.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.03.15 | National poll finds there is very little support for the American Health Care Act, with only 24% of voters supporting it, and 49% opposed. publicpolicypolling.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.06.06 | Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Sheild will pull out of Ohio's Health Insurance Marketplace at the end of this year, blaming the uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s-endorsed GOP plan to replace the ACA, as the impetus for the move. daytondailynews.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2017.06.13 | Trump told Republican senators that the House GOP health-care bill which he had then celebrated, was now “mean” and he expects the Senate to “improve” the legislation considerably. washingtonpost.com (See also Health Care, Hypocrisy) |
| 2017.06.14 | In recent national polls, only about 29 percent of Americans support the American Health Care Act. Even in the most supportive state, deep-red Oklahoma, only about 38 percent of voters support the law. nytimes.com (See also Health Care) It is the most unpopular piece of major legislation Congress has considered in decades, even more unloved than TARP (“the bailout”), and much more unpopular than the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. |
| 2017.06.22 | Former members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, who resigned last week in protest, say the Senate's new health care proposals will be devastating to people with the disease. buzzfeed.com (See also Health Care) "It will kill people — that's not hyperbole. There will be some people who will die from this." |
| 2017.07.18 | Trump has repeatedly told aides and advisers that he wants to end the subsidy payments supporting the Affordable Care Act, which would cause millions of vulnerable Americans to lose access to health coverage. politico.com (See also Unpresidential Behavior) |
| 2017.07.20 | The Trump administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the Affordable Care Act on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it. thedailybeast.com (See also Health Care, Department of Health and Human Services, Unprecedented Actions) |
| 2017.07.26 | In response to Senator Murkowski voting against the ACA repeal, Trump and his administration responded by tweeting at her and a phone call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke letting them know the vote had put Alaska's future with the administration in jeopardy. adn.com (See also Health Care, Unpresidential Behavior, Department of the Interior, Ryan Zinke) |
| 2017.07.28 | A months-long effort by Senate Republicans to pass health-care legislation collapsed early Friday after GOP Senator John McCain joined two of his colleagues to block a stripped-down Obamacare repeal bill. bloomberg.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2017.07.29 | Trump on Saturday threatened to end key payments to insurance companies made under ObamaCare if a repeal-and-replace bill is not passed. thehill.com (See also Unpresidential Behavior) |
| 2017.08.01 | Congressional Republicans moved to defuse Trump’s threat to cut off critical payments to health insurance companies, maneuvering around the president toward bipartisan legislation to shore up insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act. nytimes.com (See also Unprecedented Actions, Health Care) |
| 2017.08.10 | Actions by the Trump administration are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many people, according to a nonpartisan study. apnews.com (See also Health Care, Unprecedented Actions) WASHINGTON (AP) — Actions by the Trump administration are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many people, according to |
| 2017.08.15 | Premiums for the most popular health insurance plans would shoot up 20 percent next year, and federal budget deficits would increase by $194 billion in the coming decade, if Trump carried out his threat to end certain subsidies paid to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act. nytimes.com (See also Health Care, Unpresidential Behavior) |
| 2017.08.31 | The Department of Health and Human Services announced it's slashing the advertising and promotional budget for the Affordable Care Act for next year by 90%. axios.com (See also Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care, Assaults on Government) |
| 2017.09.20 | Donald Trump blocked a Twitter account from a woman with stage 4 cancer who has spoken out about the dangers of Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare. thinkprogress.org (See also Unpresidential Behavior, Health Care) |
| 2017.10.05 | With enrollment season on Nov. 1, the Health and Human Services Department has worked to suppress the number of people signing up by 1) slashing grants to groups that help consumers get insurance coverage, 2) cutting the enrollment period in half, 3) reducing the advertising budget by 90 percent, 4) announcing an outage schedule that would make the HealthCare.gov website significantly less available, and 5) not committing to funding the cost-sharing reductions that help 7 million lower income Americans afford out-of-pocket expenses. washingtonpost.com (See also Health Care, Assaults on Government) |
| 2017.10.12 | Donald Trump ended subsidies to health insurance companies that help pay out-of-pocket costs of low-income people, after he ordered sweeping changes in the nation’s insurance system, which will send insurance premiums soaring, and insurance companies fleeing from the health law’s online marketplaces. nytimes.com (See also Unprecedented Actions, Unpresidential Behavior, Health Care) |
| 2017.10.12 | Donald Trump plans to cut off subsidy payments to insurers selling ACA coverage in his most aggressive move yet to undermine his predecessor's health care law. politico.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2017.10.12 | Eighteen U.S. states sued Donald Trump’s administration on Friday to stop him from scrapping a key component of Obamacare, subsidies to insurers that help millions of low-income people pay medical expenses. reuters.com (See also Health Care, Legal Issues) |
| 2017.10.17 | A pair of leading Republican and Democratic senators reached an agreement Tuesday to fund key federal health-care subsidies that Donald Trump literally just ended days ago, and yet the president expressed support for the plan. washingtonpost.com (See also Health Care, Unpresidential Behavior) |
| 2017.10.18 | Donald Trump backed away from his endorsement of a bipartisan Senate proposal to stabilize health insurance markets, throwing the legislative effort into doubt even as the chief architect of the deal predicted that it would become law before the end of the year. nytimes.com (See also Health Care, Unpresidential Behavior) |
| 2017.10.20 | The percentage of U.S. adults lacking health insurance rose in the third quarter of 2017 to 12.3%, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous quarter and 1.4 points since the end of 2016, which is the highest recorded rate since 3 years of success declines with the Affordable Care Act. news.gallup.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2017.10.25 | Premiums for the most popular “Obamacare” plans are going up an average of 34 percent, due to Trump administration’s actions which are adding instability to the underlying problems of the health law's marketplaces. apnews.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2017.11.06 | The Trump administration has prepared an executive order that would unravel Obamacare's individual mandate, but has put it on hold to see whether repealing the penalties for going uninsured might be included in the Republican tax bill instead. washingtonexaminer.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2017.12.15 | A federal court issued a preliminary injunction on Friday blocking a Trump administration rule on insurance coverage of contraceptives for women, saying the rule contradicts the text of the Affordable Care Act by allowing employers to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage if they have religious or moral objections. nytimes.com (See also Health Care, Women, Legal Issues) |
| 2017.12.20 | Republicans are on the verge of passing the most significant overhaul of the tax code since 1986, after the Senate passed the GOP plan, cutting the corporate tax rate dramatically providing new breaks for businesses, lowering income tax bills in 2018 for the vast majority of households, though the wealthy would see far more relief than the middle class and working poor. washingtonpost.com (See also Unprecedented Actions, Economy, Trump Taxes) |
| 2017.12.22 | Almost 9 million people signed up for ACA coverage, slightly less than last year, but it had a shorter sign-up window, and its advertising budget was slashed by the Trump administration. axios.com (See also Health Care, Department of Health and Human Services) |
| 2017.12.25 | Donald Trump admitted that Republicans sabotaged the Affordable Care Act in their tax cut bill, and told people not to discuss the repeal to the media. mic.com (See also Health Care, Unpresidential Behavior) |
| 2018.01.23 | The Trump administration’s commission on the opioid crisis is a sham that will not produce meaningful public health outcomes, according to a member of said commision. splinternews.com (See also Health Care, Kellyanne Conway) |
| 2018.01.26 | Covered California, the state's ACA insurance exchange, has published the first estimates of what "Trumpcare" will cost in 2019, as premiums will increase by 16% to 30%. latimes.com (See also Health Care, Department of Health and Human Services) |
| 2018.05.01 | Donald Trump's former top health official, Tom Price, said the Republican tax law would raise the cost of health insurance for some Americans because it repealed a core provision of the Affordable Care Act. washingtonpost.com (See also Tom Price, Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care) |
| 2018.05.07 | Donald Trump is sending a plan to Congress that calls for stripping more than $15 billion in previously approved spending, almost half of which would come from two accounts within the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that White House officials said expired last year or are not expected to be drawn upon. washingtonpost.com (See also Reversals, Economy, Health Care) An additional $800 million in cuts would come from money created by the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to test innovative payment and service delivery models. |
| 2018.06.19 | The Trump administration announced a sweeping new rule that will make it easier for small businesses to skirt many requirements of the Affordable Care Act, offering lower costs but also fewer benefits. nytimes.com (See also Reversals, Health Care) |
| 2018.07.07 | The Trump administration said Saturday that it was suspending a program that pays billions of dollars to insurers to stabilize health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act, a freeze that could increase uncertainty in the markets and drive up premiums this fall. nytimes.com (See also Health Care) |
| 2018.07.10 | The Trump administration’s campaign to undermine the Affordable Care Act moved forward by slashing funds for organizations that help people to shop for coverage, forcing the groups to make do with about one-fourth of the federal funding they got for this year’s open enrollment. huffingtonpost.com (See also Health Care, Reversals) |
| 2018.08.02 | A new lawsuit being filed argues that Donald Trump’s efforts to “let Obamacare implode” on its own" violate the U.S. Constitution. nbcnews.com (See also Legal Activity, Health Care) |
| 2018.11.07 | The Trump administration issued a pair of federal rules that allow some employers to deny insurance coverage of birth control on religious or moral grounds, plowing ahead despite a legal and ideological tempest, creating a deep exception to a federal requirement under the Obama-era interpretation of the Affordable Care Act that essential health benefits must include coverage of contraception at no charge to consumers. washingtonpost.com (See also Women, Health Care, Reversals) |
| 2018.11.29 | The Trump administration announced new rules further dismantling the Affordable Care Act, by granting states broad freedom to help pay for unregulated health insurance plans, which typically have cheaper premiums but higher out-of-pocket costs and cover fewer services. buzzfeednews.com (See also Department of Health and Human Services, Reversals) |
Assessments
- 2016.11.29 The Washington post reports on the likely impact on the ACA of Trump's pick for Secretary of health and Human service, Tom Price, who is a longtime critic of ACA. (Washington Post)
- 2016.12.27 The Washington Post reports on coal country Trump voters who now fear losing the ACA provision that allows longterm coal miners to receive disability benefits for black lung disease. (Washington Post)