Today, President Trump tweeted a bizarre lie that he alone “saved” protections for pre-existing conditions in health care. The press quickly debunked President Trump’s claim and reminded Americans of the truth about Trump’s disastrous health care agenda.
Associated Press: AP FACT CHECK: No, Trump Didn’t Save Preexisting Conditions. “People with preexisting medical problems have health insurance protections because of President Barack Obama’s health care law, which Trump is trying to dismantle. One of Trump’s major alternatives to Obama’s law — short-term health insurance, already in place — doesn’t have to cover preexisting conditions. Another major 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 has been pressing in court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination.” [Associated Press, 1/13/20]
New York Times: To the Contrary, Trump Has Tried to Weaken Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions. “President Trump was not in Washington when the Affordable Care Act passed and established a right to health insurance for Americans with pre-existing health conditions. His first legislative priority as president was a bill that would have repealed key parts of Obamacare and weakened such protections. His Justice Department is arguing in court that the entire law should be overturned.” [New York Times, 1/13/20]
Washington Times: Trump Misleads On Obamacare In Attacking Bloomberg. “Mr. Trump said he ‘saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare,’ although the protections were written into the law that President Obama muscled to passage in 2010. He’s also rooting for a state-driven legal challenge that could upend those very protections.” [The Washington Times, 1/13/20]
Politico Pro: “Trump’s Claim Monday That He ‘Saved Pre-Existing Conditions’ In Americans’ HealthCare Is A False One — The Latest Attempt By The President To Distort His Years-Long Record Of Trying To Strike Down The Affordable Care Act.” “Trump’s claim Monday that he ‘saved Pre-Existing Conditions’ in Americans’ health care is a false one — the latest attempt by the president to distort his years-long record of trying to strike down the Affordable Care Act. Backed by then-President Barack Obama and passed by Democrats in Congress in 2010, the landmark health care law included historic protections for millions of Americans with chronic illness and other health conditions.” [Politico Pro, 1/13/20]
MSNBC: “It’s As Brazen A Lie As Trump As Ever Told – And To Know Anything About The President Is To Know The Competition In That Category Is Fierce.” “It’s as brazen a lie as Trump as ever told – and to know anything about the president is to know the competition in that category is fierce. In reality, Trump didn’t “save” protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions; he fought to take those protections away through a series of far-right repeal-and-replace proposals he couldn’t get through a Congress led by his own party. Trump, of course, is also helping champion an ongoing federal lawsuit which would – you guessed it – strip protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions.” [MSNBC, 1/13/20]
Business Insider: Trump Says He ‘Saved’ Protections For Pre-Existing Healthcare Conditions – But He’s Actually Tried Shredding Them For 3 Years. “President Trump sought to place himself as the guardian of a popular part of Obamacare in a series of Monday morning tweets, saying he protected insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions on behalf of millions of Americans. But that doesn’t align with his administration’s record on healthcare.” [Business Insider, 1/13/20]
Yahoo News: Trump “Misrepresented His Administration’s Health Care Record” While Touting Court Case That Would Throw Millions Of Americans With Pre-Existing Conditions Off Of Their Insurance. “Trump’s ‘win in court’ reference is about a lawsuit, backed by the Justice Department, that if successful would result in the overturning of the Affordable Care Act (the ACA, or Obamacare). If that happens, many Americans with preexisting conditions could lose their coverage entirely or face significantly higher premiums, unless and until an alternative is passed. Without protections for preexisting conditions provided by Obamacare, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated in 2015 that up to 52 million people could be denied coverage. Others would lose insurance if the Medicaid expansion that was adopted by dozens of states and D.C. was killed.”” [Yahoo News, 1/13/20]
Vox: Trump Claiming To Be A Defender Of Preexisting Conditions Is Pretty Shameless. “Trump — who in 2017 pushed health care legislation that would’ve resulted in 23 million Americans losing coverage, and whose administration is currently fighting in federal court to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including its protections for people with preexisting conditions — nonetheless claimed in a tweet attacking Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg on Monday that ‘I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare, you have it now’…Trump’s tweet is either a big lie, illustrates his profound confusion about health care policy, or some combination thereof.” [Vox, 1/13/20]
Esquire: Trump Debuts a New Claim That Is the Actual Diametric Opposite of Reality. “This is just unbelievably brazen lying, even by current Presidential Standards. The Trump administration is right now, this second, backing a lawsuit that would completely dismantle the Affordable Care Act. It would strip the guaranteed protection for preexisting conditions that is one of the law’s primary achievements and leave nothing in its place. This is real life: people will lose their coverage and go bankrupt if the decision goes that way. Funny enough, the people who want the law struck down have made it clear to the court that this can wait until after the 2020 election—when they might face some repercussions for their actions. 68 percent of respondents in a Kaiser Family Foundation poll last year said they wanted to maintain the protections.” [Esquire, 1/13/20]
Mother Jones: Don’t Let Trump Fool You Into Thinking He’s Improving Health Care. “President Donald Trump took to Twitter Monday morning with a brazenly false claim about his health care policy. Let’s break this down. First, Trump was not ‘the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare.’ All health plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace are required by law, as enacted under Barack Obama, to cover treatment for preexisting conditions. A 2019 Kaiser Health News fact check found Trump’s repeated claims to protect patients with preexisting conditions false.” [Mother Jones, 1/13/20]