JD Vance's claim that his mother got health insurance thanks to Donald Trump has raised eyebrows, especially when the real credit lies with Obamacare. In a recent vice presidential debate, Vance spoke of how his family members, including his mother, switched from Medicaid to private health insurance for the first time during Trump's presidency.
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However, according to a campaign spokesperson who clarified the details later in The Washington Post, his mother accessed her coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.
The way Vance framed his statement gave the impression that Trump had somehow played a pivotal role in securing health insurance for his mother. However, it was Obamacare, a law Trump actively tried to dismantle during his time in office, that made it possible.
Trump's administration was known for its attempts to repeal the ACA, which started almost immediately after he took office in 2017. Despite those efforts, Trump couldn't get rid of the landmark law, and Obamacare continued to be a lifeline for millions of Americans, including Vance's mother.
“Members of my family got private health insurance for the first time under Donald Trump's leadership,” Vance said during the debate. However, he omitted the fact that it was through Obamacare's marketplace that his mother found her insurance coverage.
His mother, who had overcome substance use disorder, had reached a point where her income exceeded the threshold for Medicaid, prompting her to seek private insurance – something made accessible by the ACA's provisions.
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Trump's battle against Obamacare is no secret. According to Politico, the former president made several attempts to repeal the law, all of which were met with significant resistance from Democrats and the general public.
Public support for the ACA surged during these attempts, pushing the Trump administration to shift its strategy. Instead of completely overturning the law, they focused on tweaking it. This included cutting the enrollment period by half, making it harder for Americans to access health plans, and promoting alternatives that offered fewer protections and benefits.
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Still, the marketplace attracted more insurers, which was one of the few positive outcomes of Trump's policies. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stated that by making regulatory adjustments, Trump's administration helped bring more market competition, although enrollment numbers did dip nationwide.
However, Vance’s suggestion that Trump somehow "worked bipartisanly" to save Obamacare misrepresents the reality. Trump has continued, as recently as 2023, to push for the repeal of the ACA, urging Republicans to “never give up” on eliminating it.
Former president Barack Obama didn't mince words on the subject either. At a campaign event for Harris, Obama remarked, “His running mate had the nerve to say, ‘Donald Trump salvaged the Affordable Care Act.' I mean, Donald Trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear it down, and by the way, he couldn't even do that right.”
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