Economist Paul Krugman: 'Millions of Americans' will lose healthcare if Trump wins

26 January 2024

The United States remains the only major developed country that lacks universal healthcare. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare, the number of Americans without health insurance is much lower than what it was 15 or 20 years ago.

On Wednesday, October 24, the Biden Administration announced that more than 21 million Americans signed up for health plans for 2024 via the ACA's insurance marketplaces. Obamacare is enjoying record enrollment at a time when 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is once again threatening to abolish it.

In an official statement, President Joe Biden, declared, "The American people have made it clear: they don't want the Affordable Care Act weakened and repealed — they want it strengthened and protected."

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Liberal economist Paul Krugman, in his January 25 column for the New York Times, argues that Biden "deserves some political reward" for increasing Obamacare enrollment and warns that Trump will try to kill the increasingly popular program if he wins the 2024 presidential election.

Although the ACA, Krugman writes, still has some room for improvement, it has "led to big gains in health insurance coverage."

"Trump tried but failed to repeal Obamacare in 2017, and the backlash to that effort helped Democrats win control of the House the next year," Krugman explains. "Trump was nonetheless able to create some erosion in the program — for example, by cutting off funds for 'navigators' that help people enroll."

The economist continues, "That erosion has now been decisively reversed.… America still doesn't have the universal coverage that is standard in other wealthy nations, but some states, including Massachusetts and New York, have gotten close. And this gain, unlike some of the other good things happening, is all on Biden, who both restored aid to people seeking health coverage and enhanced a key aspect of the system."

Krugman goes on to say that health care needs to be a "big issue in the 2024 election."

"Biden has made health insurance coverage more accessible and more affordable for millions of Americans," Krugman argues. "If Trump wins, however, he will try again to do away with Obamacare; he has said as much, and this time, he could very well succeed. He promises to replace it with something 'MUCH BETTER.'"

The Times columnist continues, "I guess this depends on your definition of better. In 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Trump's health plan would raise the number of uninsured by 32 million within a decade; that number would probably be larger today. So, one more reminder of how much is at stake this year."

Paul Krugman's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).

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