Trump Claims He ‘Saved Pre-Existing Conditions’ Despite Fighting to Eliminate Them
President Donald Trump claimed he “saved pre-existing conditions” in a tweet, despite the fact his administration is currently fighting a legal battle to eliminate them. The president made the dubious claim on Monday…
President Donald Trump claimed he “saved pre-existing conditions” in a tweet, despite the fact his administration is currently fighting a legal battle to eliminate them.
The president made the dubious claim on Monday across two tweets responding to Democratic nominee and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who went after Trump in a series of ads about his record on health care.
But the president’s claim is not true. In fact, the historical record shows the opposite of what Trump’s tweets claim. As The New York Times reported, “His first legislative priority as president was a bill that would have repealed key parts of Obamacare and weakened such protections.”
Americans with pre-existing conditions are currently protected from higher premiums or deductibles because of former President Barack Obama, who helped pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. One crucial and at times contentious part of the ACA mandated that health insurance companies charge sick and healthy people the same premiums. That mandate enjoys widespread support from Americans but is currently being fought over in court.
Why? Because the Trump administration is fighting to repeal the law. The administration is trying to win a legal battle for a full repeal of the law, which would remove provisions that protect patients with pre-existing conditions. And the Trump administration’s alternatives that it’s supported — from short-term health insurance to the American Health Care Act — do not protect patients with pre-existing conditions from higher premiums.
Immediately after sending the tweet, politicians, journalists and pundits began slamming Trump for a “bald-faced lie.”
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1216719432078282753
Despite facing widespread backlash, Trump has not backed down from his claims. Instead, he pivoted on Twitter from Health Care to the alleged Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) feud, and tweets critical of the impeachment process and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).