Trump Surprises Republicans – Delighting Democrats – Trying to Revive the Battle of Health Care

The Trump government made a surprise decision to abolish the Affordable Care Act. The partisan battle for health care kicked off Tuesday in the midst of the 2020 campaign, offering Democrats a potential political gift on a record that had severely damaged Republicans in mid-term elections last year. .

In a new case, the Justice Department argued that the ACA, also known as Obamacare, should be thrown in its entirety, including provisions protecting millions of Americans having pre-existing health problems and allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health care. plans.

President Trump hailed this decision at a luncheon with Senate Republicans and suggested the GOP embark on a new congressional battle on health policy before the 2020 election.

"Let me tell you exactly what my message is: the Republican Party will soon be known as the health care party," he told reporters before lunch. "You look."

But neither the White House nor congressional Republicans have proposed a new plan to replace the global law of the Obama era, passed nearly a decade ago and whose popularity has increased since the 39 Trump election.

The Democrats immediately grabbed the administration's record, calling it the Republicans 'latest attempt to cut Americans' health insurance. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Also unveiled Tuesday Democratic plans to further strengthen the ACA.

"Trump and his administration are trying to shield health care from tens of millions of Americans – again," said Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) On Twitter, one many tweets of presidential candidates criticizing him for health care. . "We have to fight with everything we have. And in 2020, we must elect a president who will make health care a right. "

Just as late as November, after the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives during an election dominated by the health care issue, Republican congressional leaders had hinted that it was not the only way in which the House of Representatives had taken control of the House of Representatives. they were considering giving up their efforts to abolish Obamacare for years.

But Trump hinted that he wanted to revisit the issue, after two unsuccessful attempts to cancel the legislative signing of former President Barack Obama in 2017. Trump has long criticized these failures and recently attacked the regretted Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) for his crucial role in the cancellation of the effort.

Trump spent much of his time at the Senate luncheon talking about health care, according to several senators present.

"There's a message to be learned as early as 2018 about politics, it's health care," said Senator Lindsey O. Graham (R-C.) To the press after Tuesday's luncheon. "Let's be the health care party."

"He thinks this is the only area where we have failed and he wants us to take care of it," said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.). "He said it very clearly."

However, by resuming old battles to suppress the popular elements of the current health system, Trump risks encouraging and uniting Democrats seeking to make health care a priority issue in 2020, he said. said Amy Walter, national editor of Cook's political report. Democrats who have divided over the last few months on the health insurance bill for all can now join forces to protect the most popular provisions of the ACA, she said. .

"If you are a Republican who is thinking about 2020 right now, you want to be offended by health care and not by defense," she said. "And the only way to do that is to focus on what the Democrats want to do – on medicare for all – rather than on what the President and the White House suggest."

The president's remarks at the Senate luncheon come after the Justice Ministry backed Obamacare's invalidation in a legal deposit on Monday in the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New York. Orleans, where an appeal is pending in a case challenging the constitutionality of the law. In December, a Texas federal judge ruled that the individual mandate of the law "can no longer be maintained as an exercise of the fiscal power of Congress" and further concluded that the remaining parts of the law were void. He based his judgment on the changes made to the nation's tax laws by Congressional Republicans in 2017.

The Republican senators reacted differently to the new administration file, although none proposed to give up the entire Obamacare without an immediate replacement of the most popular elements.

Senator Susan Collins (Maine), a moderate Republican who voted against several bills to dismantle the ACA, said Tuesday that she was "very disappointed" by the legal situation of the administration. .

"It is very unusual for the Department of Justice not to defend duly enacted laws, contrary to the Affordable Care Act," Collins said. "This decision to go even further by failing to defend the law is very disappointing."

Some Republican senators downplayed the idea that the 2010 Health Care Act was under immediate threat and said they would work to protect those already suffering from pre-existing conditions.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Who has argued previous lawsuits to try the unconstitutional Affordable Care Act, said he still supported the elimination of the law.

"I think Obamacare should be gone," he said. "In addition to Obamacare, we have to take care of people with pre-existing conditions, which I've talked a lot about."

The fate of Obamacare could – again – depend on the Supreme Court, which has appointed two conservative judges since its vote in favor of maintaining the historic health care law in 2012.

If the courts annulled the ACA, about 20 million Americans would lose their health coverage, according to an analysis of the Urban Institute, a think tank on economic and social policies. The benefits of the coverage were mainly obtained through the provision of subsidized private plans in the state markets and the extension of Medicaid in many states to people winning up to 138% of the federal poverty line.

There are also implications for the health care and insurance sector. People with workplace plans could be affected because employers would be allowed to reduce certain medical benefits and people with pre-existing illnesses who buy coverage would no longer be guaranteed access to coverage at no cost. additional.

Democrats were eager to point out the potential damage resulting from a decision to dismiss Obamacare – and change the subject after a summary of the findings of special advocate Robert S. Mueller III not establishing that the Trump campaign had been plotted with Russia in the 2016 election. Some pointed out that the relentless focus on health care had helped Democrats take control of the House last year.

"I just won my race in the Senate and I talked a lot about health care," said Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

Although many Democratic presidential candidates have adopted health care proposals that go beyond the Affordable Care Act to provide universal coverage, the defense of the law against the Republicans' attempts to dismantle it has revealed a powerful rallying cry and an effective unifying tool.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Has often emphasized his support for Medicare for all during his presidential campaign, but on Tuesday he sought to defend Obamacare against the Trump administration.

"Our goal is to achieve Medicare for all and make health care a right," he said. wrote on Twitter. "Today, our job is to defend the law on affordable care against the Trump administration's incessant attacks."

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Is frequently interviewed during public meetings on health care, a topic that has been addressed a dozen times at events across the country, according to a track record established by his presidential campaign. Warren supports Medicare-for-all, but has also pleaded for the protection of Obamacare.

"I'll say it for the zillion times: we will not let the Trump administration destroy the health care of millions of Americans," she said. m said Tuesday on Twitter. "Not now, never."

Sean Sullivan and Paige Winfield Cunningham contributed to this report.