Gutting Affordable Care Act : a misguided thought

Repealing the Affordable Care Act could be disastrous, especially for those who make up most of Donald Trump’s supporters. Coal miners, many of whom voted for President-elect Trump, benefited from black lung benefits that were written into the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Similarly, there were subsidies for helping people afford plans. While not perfect, the health care law did solve many problems of the old system, such as cumbersome insurance applications and rejections for pre-existing conditions. U.S. adults often skip care and are sicker than adults in 11 other countries that were surveyed, according to the Commonwealth Fund. While Republicans are fans of American exceptionalism, they have yet to find a better plan than Obamacare or a single-payer system. Instead of working on a plan that could be an alternative to Obamacare, Republicans simply opposed it and called for a repeal, as if the health care system was perfect to begin with until Barack Obama messed it up.

Over the course of the presidential campaign, it was clear that Trump didn’t have a lot of control over the GOP, and this has bled over into his time as president-elect. While he advocated for repeal and replace (with what, he never specified), the party pushed first and foremost for a repeal without an alternative. However, even the GOP is beginning to see how a repeal and delay tactic could be terrible for health care. Some Republicans worry that their party will be blamed for ruining the system, causing people to lose what little coverage they have, reports Politico. This signifies a change from the past, when many didn’t worry about consequences to the party and simply wanted anything associated with Obama to go, even though his plan seemed like a fundamentally Republican idea: to make people buy health insurance in the private sector. Politico writer Kyle Cheney said, “The RomneyCare exchange, which helped [Massachusetts] provide health coverage to more than 97 percent of residents, became the template for the Obamacare version.” Now that Trump is the president-elect and Republicans are able to do whatever they want legislatively, they have realized all this talk of repealing Obamacare never came up with a suitable alternative.

Many of Trump’s supporters didn’t believe he would ultimately repeal Obamacare, or they wouldn’t say they supported it even though they benefited from it. Many of the Obamacare enrollees in Kentucky supported Trump in the election because they were convinced they were paying too much and someone else was getting benefits they didn’t deserve, reports Vox. Some even believed that the most left-wing aspects of the law, such as Medicaid expansion, would be increased. This will prove to be one of the first challenges for the Trump administration. These voters have clearly put a lot of trust into how he will handle health care, given that he has been very vague in the past about what exactly he wants to do instead of Obamacare.

Repealing without any replacement in mind is simply irresponsible. It leaves many people without the care they need. Health care should be a right, not a privilege for the elite. After taking away Obamacare, the health care system would revert to what it was like during the Bush administration. The uninsured weren’t covered, and those who couldn’t afford health insurance simply didn’t get it, resulting in unpaid medical bills. The Republicans love the bootstrap ideology — the idea that getting out of poverty is a matter of hard work — but when people are buried in medical bills, it can be hard for them to dig themselves out, no matter how hard they work. The U.S. cannot afford to revert to this when the quality of life of millions of Americans is at stake.

Nicole Dan is a UF political science and journalism junior. Her column runs on Mondays.