Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T13:24:30.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Trump v. The ACA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2020

Michael K. Gusmano*
Affiliation:
Rutgers University School of Public Health and The Hastings Center, 683 Hoes Lane West, Room 311, Piscataway Township, NJ08854
Michael S. Sparer
Affiliation:
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA
Lawrence D. Brown
Affiliation:
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Before his incoherent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of President Trump's health policy agenda was the elimination of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which he has called a ‘disaster’. The attacks on the ACA included proposals to repeal the law through the legislative process, to erode it through a series of executive actions, and to ask the courts to declare it unconstitutional. Despite these ongoing challenges, the ACA remains largely intact as the U.S. heads into the 2020 election. The longer term fate of the law, however, is uncertain and the outcome of the 2020 election is likely to have a dramatic effect on the direction of health policy in the U.S.

Type
Perspective
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bagley, N (2019) A case that should have been laughed out of court may kill Obamacare. The Atlantic, December 19. Available at https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/affordable-care-acts-unconstitutional-flaw/603871/Google Scholar
Bump, P (2017) This is not the health-care bill that Trump promised. The Washington Post. May 4. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/05/04/this-is-not-the-health-care-bill-that-donald-trump-promisedGoogle Scholar
Carlsen, A and Park, H (2017) The same agency that runs Obamacare is using taxpayer money to undermine it. New York Times, September 10, 22Google Scholar
Center for American Progress (2020) Tracking Trump's sabotage of the ACA. Available at https://interact.americanprogress.org/maps/2018/09/tracking_trump_aca_timeline/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Collier, HG, Kimberly, MB and Waring, MA (2020) Brief of public health experts, The American Public Health Association, and The American Academy of Nursing as Amici Curiae in support of the California parties and severing the individual mandate. On Writs of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Nos. 19–840 & 19–1019 In the Supreme Court of the United States.Google Scholar
Congressional Budget Office (2017) American Health Care Act. Washington, DC. May 24.Google Scholar
Gais, T and Gusmano, MK (2020) Putting the pieces together again: American states and the end of the ACA's shared responsibility payment. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 45, 3. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-8161048.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gusmano, MK and Thompson, FJ (2020) The administrative presidency, waivers, and the affordable care act. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 45, 2, https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-8255553.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gusmano, MK, Laugesen, M, Brown, LD and Rodwin, VG (2020) Getting the price right: what other countries do well. Health Affairs 39. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01804Google Scholar
Jost, T (2017) Trump executive order on ACA: What it won't do, what it might do, and when. Health Affairs, January 20, Available at https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20170121.058405/full/.Google Scholar
Keith, K (2018) Federal judge strikes down entire ACA; law remains in effect. Health Affairs Blog. Available at https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20181215.617096/full/Google Scholar
Konisky, DM and Richardson, LE Jr (2012) Penalizing the party: health care reform issue voting in the 2010 election. American Politics Research 40, 903926.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lotven, A (2017) Administration acts on executive order: Proposed short-term plan rule hits OMB. InsideHealthPolicy. November 7.Google Scholar
Nadash, P, Miller, EA, Jones, DK, Gusmano, MK and Rosenbaum, S (2018) A series of unfortunate events: implications of Republican efforts to repeal and replace the affordable care act for older adults. Journal of Aging and Social Policy 30, 259281. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2018.146283CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pamela, H, Deleire, T, Harvey, H and Moynihan, D (2013) Shifting administrative burden to the state: the case of medicaid take-up. Public Administration Review 73, 6981.Google Scholar
Rudowitz, R, Musumeci, MB and Hall, C (2019) February State Data for Medicaid Work Requirements in Arkansas. San Francisco, CA, USA: Kaiser Family Foundation Issue Brief. Available at https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/state-data-for-medicaid-work-requirements-in-arkansas/.Google Scholar
Scott, D (2020) Trump's biggest midterm blunder: embracing Obamacare repeal. Vox. November 7. Available at https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/7/18070152/midterm-elections-2018-results-trump-obamacare-repealGoogle Scholar
Sparer, M (2020) Federalism and the ACA: lessons for the 2020 health policy debate. Health Affairs, March 2020. Available at https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01366CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, FJ, Gusmano, MK and Shinohara, S (2018) Trump, Obamacare, and American federalism: executive branch discretion and program durability. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 48, 396424. doi: 10.1093/publius/pjy007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verma, S and Price, T (2017) Dear Governor. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sec-priceadmin-verma-ltr.pdf.Google Scholar