Where they stand: Trump and Harris on health care
And abortion.
Good morning! It’s Thursday, October 31, 2024. Happy Halloween! 🎃
We are now five days from Election Day, and we are still in the midst of my Horse Race Blackout Period — focusing on policy, not polls, in the final stretch. This morning, we’re taking a look at how Trump and Harris stack up on health care policy, including abortion.
Let’s dive in!
Where they stand
OBAMACARE: Donald Trump suggested at last month’s debate that he would seek to “replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, during a second term, although he acknowledged that he had only “concepts of a plan.” Yesterday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said that health care reform would be a “big part of the agenda” in a future Trump administration, but when Johnson suggested that Obamacare would be repealed, the Trump campaign distanced itself from that stance.
Kamala Harris frequently praises Obamacare on the stump and has promised to make permanent Biden-era subsidies that help around 20 million Americans pay for health insurance. The subsidies are set to expire in 2025; the Trump campaign has signaled opposition to extending them.
ABORTION: Although Trump has previously expressed support for a national abortion ban, he announced earlier this month that he would veto a federal abortion ban “under any circumstances” if re-elected. Trump has, however, expressed openness to banning the abortion pill mifepristone, one of several executive actions he could take to limit abortion short of passing a federal law. He has said he would protect access to in-vitro fertilization — even calling for IVF to be made free, although it was unclear if he would have the government or insurance companies pay for it.
Harris has made abortion a centerpiece of campaign, promising to pass a law restoring Roe v. Wade if elected — and saying she would support making an exception to the Senate filibuster to do so.
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: Harris’ economic agenda calls for building on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, by extending the IRA’s $35 cap on insulin costs for Medicare users to all Americans and by accelerating the speed of the Medicare drug price negotiations set up the law.
Trump has spoken about lowering drug prices, but offered few specifics. Earlier in the campaign, he promised to sign an executive order that would “tell Big Pharma that we will only pay the best price they offer to foreign nations” — but he backed away from that pledge earlier this week.
SENIORS: Harris has proposed expanding Medicare to cover hearing and vision for seniors, as well as the costs of home care services for enrollees who are “unable to independently perform activities of daily living like bathing, eating, and going to the bathroom and/or face serious cognitive impairment.”
At his Madison Square Garden rally, Trump also laid out a plan for home care, proposing a new tax credit for family members taking care of a “parent or loved one.”
CHRONIC DISEASE: Trump has said he would establish a “special Presidential Commission of independent minds who are not bought and paid for by Big Pharma” and task them with investigating the increasing prevalence of chronic illnesses. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would likely play a key role: Trump said on Sunday that he will let Kennedy “go wild” on examining the topic. (Kennedy has said Trump promised him “control” of the public health agencies, although the Trump campaign disputes that claim.)
Harris’ platform does not mention the issue.
Where they overlap
Both Trump and Harris have promised to preserve funding for Medicare, which provides health insurance for Americans with disabilities or over the age of 65.
“President Trump has made absolutely clear that he will not cut one penny from Medicare,” the Republican platform states.
Harris’ website says that she will “always fight to ensure that Americans can count on getting the benefits they earned.”
What they aren’t talking about
Trump: “When he promises not to defund or roll back spending on Medicare or Social Security, he never mentions Medicaid,” Cynthia Cox, the vice president of health care think tank KFF, told me. As president, Trump allowed states to cap funding for Medicaid, a joint state/federal program provides health insurance to low-income and disabled Americans. He has said little on the 2024 campaign trail about how he would handle the program in a second term.
Harris: The 2020 Democratic platform, when Harris was running for vice president, promised to institute a “public option” — a government-run health insurance plan that would be offered as an alternative to private coverage — that low-income Americans would be “automatically enrolled in” at zero cost. In the White House, Biden and Harris never mentioned the plan; it has now fallen out of the party’s platform this cycle without explanation. “starting to see the ACA is working better,” Cox said, “and not necessarily wanting to return to those conversations of Medicare for All.”
More news to know
The Supreme Court allowed Virginia to move forward with purging 1,600 people suspected of being non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls, despite the fact that U.S. citizens have been removed as part of the program. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.
Donald Trump is already leveling allegations of voter fraud in Pennsylvania. There is no evidence to support his claims.
“America’s economy just achieved the rare feat of a soft landing,” CNN declares.
Trump has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he “wants Israel to wrap up the war in Gaza by the time he returns to office if he wins the election,” according to the Times of Israel.
Buzz Aldrin is for Trump. Arnold Schwarzenegger is for Harris. Last call to get your celebrity endorsements in!
Seven states are holding referenda next week on dramatic changes to their election systems.
Colleen Shogan, the Biden-appointed head of the National Archives, is facing allegations of censorship after ordering that exhibits be changed to focus on rosier parts of U.S. history — removing references to the treatment of Native tribes, Japanese-American internment, the Holocaust, and Martin Luther King.
The day ahead
Vice President Kamala Harris will hold rallies in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. Jennifer Lopez will join her for the Las Vegas event.
Gov. Tim Walz will campaign in Bucks County and Erie, Pennsylvania.
Former President Donald Trump will hold rallies in Henderson, Nevada, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and participate in a hurricane relief benefit in Phoenix, Arizona, with Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Ssen. JD Vance will hold a town hall in High Point, North Carolina.
Before I go…
Here’s something that has nothing to do with politics: Apparently, crows hold grudges, according to the New York Times:
Renowned for their intelligence, crows can mimic human speech, use tools and gather for what seem to be funeral rites when a member of their murder, as groups of crows are known, dies or is killed. They can identify and remember faces, even among large crowds.
They also tenaciously hold grudges. When a murder of crows singles out a person as dangerous, its wrath can be alarming, and can be passed along beyond an individual crow’s life span of up to a dozen or so years, creating multigenerational grudges.
You learn something new every day.
I thank you for focusing on policy and not polls. This is like a breath of fresh air. Oh and I voted early so I am ready to turn the page. Unless Donald wins and then I’m (write crazy idea here)
Really appreciate the break from the polls. I am SO tired of hearing serious discussions about how the polls are unreliable or too close to call or tainted by partisanship .... immediately followed by breathless details of the latest polls and what they might mean (or not).