On Tuesday night, President Trump continued supporting Congress’ plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Trump’s call for Congress to repeal our health care puts our families and futures in jeopardy. He’s repeated the same misleading statements we’ve heard from Congress for months, and we can’t afford to let 30 million Americans lose health care.
The ACA has given millions of Americans access to affordable health care, and ripping it apart will destroy families’ futures.
Trump’s speech was misleading, but people and organizations have proved we’re up to the task of correcting the record.
1. “Access” to health care is not the guarantee we need.
Trump and Congress talk about ensuring Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage. “Access to health care” is not the same thing as health care. If you can’t afford coverage, it’s not accessible—and your care is still in danger.
As Protect Our Care IL points out, people with pre-existing conditions, seniors, and women are all at high-risk for losing affordable coverage:
.@realDonaldTrump what about regulations that ensure insurance companies can't deny coverage or overcharge women & seniors? #jointsession pic.twitter.com/LS5UYhMIQI
— Protect Our Care IL (@ProtectILCare) March 1, 2017
Fun Fact: Taking away people's health insurance is not actually the best way to help them get healthcare. #JointAddress
— Women's March (@womensmarch) March 1, 2017
2. He used Kentucky as an example of our health care system not working—and got it totally wrong.
During his speech, Trump specifically called out that our current health care system is “unsustainable and collapsing” in Kentucky, an argument that Congress has made before. But in reality, Kentucky has benefited enormously from the Affordable Care Act:
Kentucky has had the largest drop in uninsured rate of any state under Obamacare. pic.twitter.com/5MaI2hcJbA
— Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) March 1, 2017
Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear himself vouched for those benefits to his state:
"The ACA has been successful both for quality of life for our people & economics."—@Steve__Beshear to @SaveMyCare last month #JointAddress pic.twitter.com/FYOoboi7j9
— Save My Care Bus (@savemycarebus) March 1, 2017
It’s clear that Trump and Congress are way off base.
Learn more about how the Affordable Care Act has changed lives for the better in Kentucky here.
3. He claimed our current health care system is a failure, but the numbers AND the American people disagree.
According to Trump, “Obamacare is collapsing—and we must act decisively to protect all Americans.” But the picture Trump is helping Congress paint about our health care is wrong:
Again, #ACA markets not collapsing, as we've explained. #ACA repeal destabilizes the markets: https://t.co/cc4AGA4CQE #Jointsession
— Edwin Park (@EdwinCPark) March 1, 2017
Trump and Congress also consistently claim it’s obvious that we must repeal our current health care. But the Affordable Care Act is actually at its highest approval level ever:
Support for 2010 health care law has reached its highest level on record https://t.co/lcacOnAcTC #JointSession pic.twitter.com/dgOgpQsoh3
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) March 1, 2017
In the end, Trump’s speech endorsed Congress’ plan to repeal, and only confirms we must remain vigilant in demanding Congress save our care.
Help continue the momentum to protect our health care system. Call Congress today to say #SaveMyCare.
