President-Elect Donald Trump has remained cavalier in his plans and directions for the healthcare of our nation. Throughout his campaign, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was targeted for repeal and replace without specificity as to what would be the replacement. Suggested privatized platforms would not only diminish the fiscal repairs that the ACA was slowly putting into place, but ultimately strip over 20 million Americans of their healthcare.
Once elected, Trump’s promises to retain seemingly separate platforms like Medicare began to feel hollow. Now, as Trump puts together his picks for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we see how those in place break Trump’s promises to protect Medicare as part of the ostensible replacement of the ACA.
It’s been a long-standing mission of the Republican Party to pick apart the Medicare platform and find ways to privatize it. When President Obama first introduced the ACA Act in 2010, one of his main goals was to fix the leaks in Medicare—from fraud to costliness that left those ages 65 and over with lackluster care at costs that still attacked their bottom line.
As health becomes an increasing concern as individuals age, picking apart their source of healthcare not only affects factors like preventative care, but should an individual fall ill, run the risk of either not having adequate care or racking up huge bills for out of pocket expenses. It’s exactly what Obama vowed not to do when his dubbed “Obamacare” came into effect, as “pay for play” should not be applied to people’s lives.
Trump’s soon-to-be appointed head of HHS Tom Price has had very firm stances on healthcare—more so than Trump himself. His proposed Empowering Patients First Act, dismantles the ACA and in its place uses HSAs and health pools, where tax credits are given by age and the scope of your healthcare is contingent upon how much money the individual has saved for it. It’s a troubling way to view healthcare, particularly Medicare, considering a government platform will then be exposed to the floodgates of privatized insurance.
The fraud that Obama promised to shield Americans from with the ACA will now be exchanged for a corporate-driven market where costs are less likely to be regulated. As programs like Medicare slowly lose their funding, so shall they lose their access to good doctors, and in turn the 65 and over will lose quality health insurance.
What that means for other platforms like Medicaid—where financial need is at the forefront—is even more of a concern when Price’s proposed plans rely on “the more money you save, the better your healthcare” mantra. Prior to his career in politics, Price was an orthopedic surgeon. Whether his decisions have anything to do with championing for the rights of doctors’ pockets over patients’ remains to be seen.
Sure, both Medicare and Medicaid won’t be immediately destroyed at the top of the new year. Rather, as these policies are put into practice, it could be a bit-by-bit dismantling. Will it come to full realization in four years? Who knows. But to explain to senior citizens that the fate of their health insurance shall be likened to the proactivity of their 401k plan when they haven’t had those years to prepare is a scary thought to say the least.