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FACT CHECKS: Trump and Republicans Lie at the RNC About Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions, Lowering Drug Prices and Their Attacks on the Affordable Care Act

By August 28, 2020No Comments

This week at the RNC, President Trump and his Republican allies have been rewriting their disastrous health care record. Night after night, Trump and GOP leaders have lied about protecting people with pre-existing conditions, lowering drug prices and about the success of the Affordable Care Act. Here’s the truth: drug prices are still skyrocketing and one week after the election, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in California v. Texas — a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration to completely dismantle the Affordable Care Act. If successful, Trump’s lawsuit would rip away health care from more than 23 million Americans, end protections for more than 135 million people with pre-existing conditions and throw the entire American health care system into chaos as the nation faces the worst public health crisis in a century. 

Read Fact Checks on Trump and Republicans’ Lies About Health Care Below:

Pre-Existing Conditions

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Claimed “I Can Tell You That This President Stands by Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions.”

New York Times: “This Is False…[Trump] Is Currently Trying to Dismantle The Affordable Care Act.” “This is false. While President Trump has paid lip service to protecting people who would have pre-existing medical conditions and may have provided support to Ms. McEnany during her recovery from a preventive mastectomy, he is currently trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. The federal law requires health insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions and not charge them more when they have an expensive medical condition” [New York Times, 8/27/20

  • “Mr. Trump’s First Legislative Priority Was to Repeal Parts of the Affordable Care Act. Although These Efforts Failed, His Justice Department Is Now Actively Trying to Overturn the Entire Law.” “Some 54 million Americans are estimated to have pre-existing conditions that would likely disqualify them from coverage without the protections from the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Trump’s first legislative priority was to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act. Although those efforts failed, his Justice Department is now actively trying to overturn the entire law. The administration has also taken several steps to weaken the law by encouraging the sale of health plans that do not meet the standards of Obamacare. While Mr. Trump has repeatedly promised to introduce his own plan that would protect people with pre-existing conditions, he has not yet done so.” [New York Times, 8/27/20

CNN: “The Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Have Repeatedly Put Forward Bills and Filed Lawsuits That Would Weaken Obamacare’s Protections for People with Pre-Existing Conditions.” “This needs context. Though the President has repeatedly asserted his support for covering individuals with preexisting conditions, his administration has consistently taken steps to undermine the Affordable Care Act without presenting alternative plans that would offer similar benefits. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have repeatedly put forward bills and filed lawsuits that would weaken Obamacare’s protections for people with preexisting conditions. Trump is also supporting a Republican lawsuit that is seeking to declare all of Obamacare void. He has not issued a plan to reinstate the law’s protections for people with preexisting conditions if the suit succeeds. In early August, he promised he would issue an executive order to require health insurers to ‘cover all preexisting conditions for all customers,’ but has not yet done so.” [CNN, 8/27/20

NBC News: Trump Is “Supporting A Lawsuit That Would Wipe Out Current Safeguards for Pre-Existing Conditions Without Offering A Replacement Plan.” “Trump’s policy record on pre-existing conditions, however, tells a different story. He has fought for legislation that would undo the Affordable Care Act and weaken those protections. He is supporting a lawsuit that would wipe out current safeguards for pre-existing conditions without offering a replacement plan. The president has also used his executive authority to expand the use of short-term health plans, which are less expensive but aren’t required to cover pre-existing conditions.” [NBC News, 8/26/20

AP Fact Check: “No, people with preexisting medical problems have health insurance protections because of Obama’s health care law, which Trump is trying to dismantle. One of Trump’s alternatives to Obama’s law — short-term health insurance, already in place — doesn’t have to cover preexisting conditions. Another alternative is association health plans, which are oriented to small businesses and sole proprietors and do cover preexisting conditions….Meanwhile, Trump’s administration is pressing the Supreme Court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination.” [Associated Press, 8/27/20

Washington Post: “Millions of Americans Could Lose Those Protections If the Supreme Court Strikes Down the [ACA].” “White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany made a passing reference to people with preexisting conditions, roundly mischaracterizing the Trump administration’s approach to protecting them. In a speech where she spoke about testing positive for a genetic mutation linked to breast cancer, she claimed Trump ‘stands by Americans with preexisting conditions.’ Yet the Department of Justice, under Trump, is refusing to defend the Affordable Care Act from a lawsuit brought by GOP-led states. A landmark part of the ACA was its requirement that insurers cover people with preexisting conditions and not charge them more. Millions of Americans could lose those protections if the Supreme Court strikes down the law.” [Washington Post, 8/27/20

President Trump Claimed He Has “Strongly Protected Pre-Existing Conditions”

AP Fact Check: “People with Pre-Existing Medical Problems Have Health Insurance Protections Because of Obama’a Health Care Law, Which Trump Is Trying to Dismantle.” “TRUMP: ‘We protected your preexisting conditions. Very strongly protected preexisting … and you don’t hear that.’ THE FACTS: You don’t hear it because it’s not true. People with preexisting medical problems have health insurance protections because of Obama’s health care law, which Trump is trying to dismantle.” [Associated Press, 8/25/20

  • The AP Highlighted Trump’s Promotion of Short-Term Plans and His Lawsuit to Overturn the ACA’s Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions. “One of Trump’s alternatives to Obama’s law — short-term health insurance, already in place — doesn’t have to cover preexisting conditions. Another alternative is association health plans, which are oriented to small businesses and sole proprietors and do cover preexisting conditions. Neither of the two alternatives appears to have made much difference in the market. Meanwhile, Trump’s administration is pressing the Supreme Court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination.” [Associated Press, 8/25/20

NBC News: Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims He ‘Protected Pre-Existing Conditions.’ “The president championed legislation in 2017 to undo the ACA and allow states to obtain waivers from rules that bar insurers from charging more to people with a prior illness. (The effort passed the House but stalled in the Senate.) Trump’s administration is currently backing a lawsuit led by Republican attorneys general that would wipe out the Affordable Care Act, including its pre-existing condition protections. He has not offered an alternative plan to restore them. And Trump has expanded the use of short-term plans that are cheaper and not required to cover pre-existing health conditions.” [NBC News, 8/25/20

MSNBC: On Health Care, There Are Some Lies Trump Just Can’t Shake. “Making matters worse, Trump’s efforts are ongoing: the White House is helping champion a federal lawsuit, which is currently pending at the U.S. Supreme Court, which would strip protections from Americans with pre-existing conditions. What’s more, Trump has also ‘expanded the use of short-term plans that are cheaper and that aren’t required to cover pre-existing conditions.’” [MSNBC, 8/25/20

Drug Prices

Kaiser Health News: Trump Again Claims He’s Bringing Down Drug Prices, But Details of How Are Skimpy. “During his afternoon speech Monday ― delivered on the first day of the Repubublican National Convention after delegates had unanimously renominated him to seek reelection ― he returned to this theme. ‘Now, I’m really doing it,’ he said, referring to a series of four executive orders he issued in July. These orders touched on a range of issues, including insulin prices and drug importation. He focused on two specifically. ‘But the fact is that we signed a favored nations clause and a rebate clause, and your numbers are going to come down 60, 70%,’ he said. However, those executive orders are far from being implemented, and multiple experts told us it’s unlikely the measures would pass along drug-pricing discounts to a majority of Americans. And the text of one, the favored nation executive order, has not yet been made public ― making it hard to know how exactly the initiative would work.” [Kaiser Health News, 8/26/20

  • Harvard Professor Aaron Kesselheim Said Trump “Promised to Lower Drug Prices as Part of His Campaign In 2016 and Has Done Absolutely Nothing of Substance About Drug Prices At All While He’s Been In Office.” “‘He promised to lower drug prices as part of his campaign in 2016 and has done absolutely nothing of substance about drug prices at all while he’s been in office,’ Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard, wrote in an email.” [Kaiser Health News, 8/26/20

Kaiser Health News: Tiffany Trump Claimed Trump Has Taken Several Actions to Lower Drug Prices, But In Reality “He Has Made Little Progress…Outside of Issuing Several Executive Orders That Have Yet to Be Enacted.” “‘And if you believe in expanding quality and affordable health care, only President Trump, my father, signed Right to Try into law, the favored nations clause, and other actions to lower drug prices and keep Americans from getting ripped off.’ — Tiffany Trump This is somewhat misleading. The Right to Try law that Trump signed in 2018 allows individuals with life-threatening conditions who have tried all approved treatment options and cannot participate in clinical trials to access unapproved treatments. It did not, however, lower drug prices…While Trump has long talked about lowering drug prices as one of his top health care goals, he has made little progress in doing so, outside of issuing several executive orders that have yet to be enacted.” [Kaiser Health News, 8/26/20

Affordable Care Act

Washington Post: Trump Falsely Claimed He “Knocked Out” the ACA. “Trump claimed his administration had eliminated the Affordable Care Act. That’s not true, but as part of its 2017 tax overhaul the administration did with Congress’s stamp of approval get rid of the penalty that comes with the individual mandate, a requirement for all Americans to have health insurance. ‘We eliminated Obamacare’s horrible and very unfair individual mandate, which basically knocked out Obamacare. We knocked out Obamacare,’ Trump said.” [Washington Post, 8/25/20

Washington Post: Senator Rand Paul Touted Expansion of Association Health Plans, But In Reality “the Plans Are Generally Considered to Be Cheaper Because They Provide Skimpier Coverage.” “Trump signed an executive order expanding the availability of Association Health Plans, which are geared at small businesses and associations, but the plans are generally considered to be cheaper because they provide skimpier coverage. These plans are not required to cover the 10 essential benefits that insurance policies under the Affordable Care Act must cover, such as hospitalizations, emergency care and prescription drugs. Health-care experts say insurers selling these plans may limit the services covered, though the plans allow groups of similar businesses to band together to negotiate lower insurance prices for their employees.” [Washington Post, 8/26/20