'Wrongheaded campaign': Why Trump’s latest proposal is an 'unequivocal boon to Democrats'

28 November 2023

After years of trying to overturn the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare, Republicans haven't had as much to say about it during the Joe Biden era. A GOP bill to overturn Obamacare was went down in defeat in 2017, and in 2018, Obamacare was a strong issue for Democrats when they flipped the U.S. House of Representatives.

But in a Saturday, November 25 post on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump once again proposed overturning Obamacare.

The 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner wrote, "The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it's not good Healthcare. I'm seriously looking at alternatives. We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!"

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Trump's proposal comes at a time when Obamacare is enjoying record enrollment and more public support than opposition. According to Statista, support for Obamacare reached 62 percent in April 2023.

In an opinion column published on November 28, the Washington Post's Catherine Rampell argues that GOP attacks on Obamacare have been an 'unequivocal boon to Democrats' — and will continue to be now that Trump is once again calling for its abolition.

"Unable to come up with new policy ideas, former President Donald Trump has returned to playing the greatest hits," Rampell writes. "A case in point: He is once again threatening to repeal Obamacare. It's hard to think of a more wrongheaded campaign promise than this, on both political and policy grounds."

Rampell notes that although the GOP's "fearmongering campaigns" gave the ACA "a black eye" in the past, its popularity has grown considerably since then — and Republicans attack the law at their own political peril.

"It took a while for Americans to connect the dots between the law's name and its popular provisions," Rampell explains. "Specifically, it took a potent threat of repeal, when Republicans gained control of the presidency in 2017 to go along with majorities in both chambers of Congress. The GOP repeatedly tried to 'repeal and replace' the law, but could not come up with anything that would prevent millions of Americans from losing care."

Rampell adds, "Ultimately, Republicans were unable to muster the votes to dislodge the ACA. What they did do was scare voters straight about what losing it would mean. Ever since these failed efforts, Obamacare has consistently garnered more favorable than unfavorable views from the public: 59 percent to 40 percent in the most recent KFF poll from May."

The columnist points out that Obamacare wasn't a priority for Republicans in the 2022 midterms.

Rampell observes, "Most Republican politicians have now figured out that talking about health care is a political liability, so they've shut up about it…. Trump hasn't gotten the message, though."

Catherine Rampell's full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).

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