What Could Trump 2.0 Mean for US Healthcare?
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US President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his Department of Health and Human Services Secretary tasked with fixing America's raging health crisis.
Donald Trump has promised to “bring down costs” and increase the quality of US healthcare.
What changes can be expected?
During his first term, Trump tried but failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare. Trump called Obamacare “lousy health care” and floated replacing it, saying, "If we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people, our population, less money, and provide better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it."
Trump has vowed to protect Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people aged 65 or older and younger people with disabilities.
Cuts to Medicaid, the largest government health-insurance program that covers low-income Americans, may be expected under Trump.
During his first term, Trump proposed cutting the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and eliminating the Medicaid expansion that was passed as part of the ACA.
A work requirement might be added for some able-bodied adult beneficiaries, with federal spending on the program capped.
Trump has promised to veto a federal abortion ban “under any circumstances", saying, "It is up to the states to decide.”
Trump didn’t rule out banning certain vaccines, promising to “make a decision” after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - now tapped to be his HHS chief - hinted at the possibility of ending vaccine mandates.
With an estimated 108,000 people dying from drug overdoses in the US last year, Trump blamed it on the migrant crisis. Although he criminalized all fentanyl-related substances in 2018, overdose deaths continued to soar.
