Advertisement

Trump vs. Biden On Health Care: A Stark Choice For Voters

The future of the U.S. health care system will depend a great deal on whether President Donald Trump wins reelection or former Vice President Joe Biden defeats him, and the contrasts between Trump’s record and Biden’s aspirations make the stakes plain.

Although Biden, a Democrat, isn’t campaigning in favor of anything as dramatic as “Medicare for All,” it’s hard to overstate the differences between his vision for American health care and Trump’s.

Like his fellow Republicans, Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and for the government to do less about the cost and the availability of decent coverage. Biden wants to preserve and build upon the 2010 law also known as “Obamacare” and enlarge the government’s role in making health care more accessible and affordable.

Either man’s agenda would depend on outside political forces.

Trump is counting on the Supreme Court to eliminate the law, and has faced legal challenges to many of his health policies. Many of Biden’s key proposals, such as the creation of a government-run public option as an alternative to private health insurance, would run into staunch opposition from industry groups. And both face the prospects of a split Congress, with Democrats controlling the House and Republicans controlling the Senate, or a majority in the Senate not large enough to overcome the filibuster.

Biden’s Plan: Making The Affordable Care Act More Affordable

In 2010, when President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, Biden famously called it a “big fucking deal.” Although Biden’s campaign proposal doesn’t live up to that standard, it’s closer than most people probably realize.

Biden’s plan consists of several interlocking provisionsdesigned to fortify and expand the Affordable Care Act, mainly by spending more government money to help people get insurance and creating a new, government-run insurance plan open to anybody. Biden would also let the federal government...

Continue reading on HuffPost