12) Trump Doesn’t Understand or Care About American Healthcare

Reason #12 to Vote Blue on Nov 5

Trump Doesn’t Care About Healthcare for Most Americans

The 2024 GOP Party Platform begins with 20 promises but not one of them mentions healthcare. Later in the Platform, there is a one sentence on general healthcare:

Republicans will increase Transparency, promote Choice and Competition, and expand access to new Affordable Healthcare and prescription drug options. [Emphasis mine]
chapter 4 (BRING BACK THE AMERICAN DREAM AND MAKE IT AFFORDABLE AGAIN FOR FAMILIES, YOUNG PEOPLE, AND EVERYONE)

That’s what Republicans have said, time-and-again, since the huge improvement made by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, thanks to President Obama and Democrats. Its immediate result was that way less people were uninsured:

The percentage of Americans without health insurance reached an all-time low in 2022

Not one Republican voted for “Obamacare,” and since passage, Republi-cans have voted to repeal all or parts of the Affordable Care Act more than sixty times. Not once have they come up with suggested legislation to replace it. Red States have the lowest level of coverage because their GOP Governors have meanly opted out of the ACA funded expansion of Medicaid, because they do not believe that healthcare is a human right. (Unfortunately, the law made it optional for States.)

In 2016, Trump campaigned saying he would repeal Obamacare and replace it, while at various times promising a plan that would be “beautiful,” “terrific” and “unbelievable” …just like GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan was saying at the time. Get rid of the evil Obamacare was all they cared about. Really? Trump promised he would have a plan more than 15 times since he was first elected… and he is still saying the same empty thing.

I think Trump may have thought his administration could come up with a “beautiful” healthcare plan, but I am also certain he had (and still has) little understanding of what’s involved. He finally realized this when he said: “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” Nobody knew, a phrase he uses often when he learns something obvious, is a substitute for I never knew.

At the start of the Trump administration, I attended several protests, because I questioned the wisdom and honesty of “Repeal and Replace” — without telling everyone the specifics of that so-called “beautiful” plan beforehand.

One of the few substitute ideas the GOP pushes is “Medical Savings Accounts.” But once you know what that means, you understand why someone who cannot afford to buy their own health insurance, will never be able have enough in the bank for even a minor emergency.

Basically, the GOP only wants good healthcare for those who pay their own way. That’s because the “elites” (the top 1% of income – a minimum of $600,000 yearly) benefit from investments in insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and corporate healthcare companies that are fast becoming monopolies. They oppose regulating these industries (well, all industries). Many benefit from the outrageously high corporate salaries. They all have enough money to pay for their medical expenses even without insurance, but of course they DO have medical insurance, and the best there is.

The corporate elite have been the backbone of the GOP since just after the Civil War. Despite Trump’s many business failures, he still has substantial wealth; he is an “elite.” And despite all the resurrection rhetoric, he doesn’t care about the middle class, let alone the poor.