It’s been practically 4 years since Donald Trump was president, and simply over that lengthy since we entered the time-space blur of the COVID-19 pandemic—which is to say, your reminiscence of that interval could be a bit of hazy at this level. However with Trump working for re-election towards Vice President Kamala Harris and scheduled to debate her tonight, September 10, it’s price getting reacquainted along with his views, significantly on the essential points that would affect your well being.

You would possibly recall that Trump’s historical past on well being coverage is in every single place, generally toeing the Republican line on efforts to chop authorities spending, different occasions wavering in a seemingly populist path, and in some moments taking a totally rogue path under no circumstances backed by science or substance. His marketing campaign speeches and commentary on social media have confirmed equally unpredictable, as he walks the tightrope on points like entry to well being care (whether or not he actually needs to repeal the Inexpensive Care Act or simply tweak it) and abortion (precisely to what extent he disapproves of it).

There’s far much less grey space elsewhere in Trump’s occasion: A playbook for the subsequent Republican administration referred to as Venture 2025, spearheaded by the conservative suppose tank The Heritage Basis, features a host of damaging well being coverage concepts. Although a CNN overview discovered that no less than 140 individuals who labored within the Trump administration have been concerned in its creation, Trump has claimed to “know nothing” about it. And but, a CBS Information overview discovered that greater than a 3rd of the insurance policies included in Venture 2025 mirror ones that Trump has enacted or promised to implement (from gutting public training to eradicating protections for trans folks).

However within the curiosity of sharing the proposals that Trump has at the moment aligned himself with, we’ve gone on to the supply—culling his political file and up to date statements—to provide the backside line on his stance in six key areas of well being coverage.

Learn the place Kamala Harris stands on these well being points right here.

Well being care prices

On the subject of how we must always pay for well being care, Trump’s views are nebulous. As president, he sought—and failed—to “repeal and change” the Inexpensive Care Act (ACA, a.ok.a. Obamacare), claiming it was too costly, sucking up too many taxpayer {dollars} and federal funds. However in taking motion to weaken this system, ostensibly to save lots of folks cash, his administration considerably decreased entry to high quality, low-cost care.

For starters, in 2017, Trump handed a tax legislation zeroing out the ACA penalty for having no medical health insurance, which can have spared folks cash short-term (by letting them choose out with no payment) however resulted in, predictably, a hike within the variety of uninsured of us (who are likely to spend a larger portion of their earnings on health-related prices and face substantial monetary dangers, analysis reveals). Fewer complete folks enrolled within the market additionally left insurers with no choice however to boost their premiums—which means, increased upfront prices for insured folks. A equally backward end result occurred when Trump’s administration expanded entry to extra reasonably priced short-term well being plans; it looks as if a very good factor, however in truth, these plans don’t should adjust to ACA guidelines, which means they sometimes exclude folks with pre-existing situations and don’t provide protection for issues like maternity care and substance use therapy. All of the whereas, large cuts in funding for ACA promoting and “navigator” programming to assist folks with the enrollment course of additional lowered the variety of folks with protection.