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Trump v. The ACA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2020

Michael K. Gusmano*
Affiliation:
Rutgers University School of Public Health and The Hastings Center, 683 Hoes Lane West, Room 311, Piscataway Township, NJ08854
Michael S. Sparer
Affiliation:
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA
Lawrence D. Brown
Affiliation:
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: gusmanom@thehastingscenter.org

Abstract

Before his incoherent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of President Trump's health policy agenda was the elimination of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which he has called a ‘disaster’. The attacks on the ACA included proposals to repeal the law through the legislative process, to erode it through a series of executive actions, and to ask the courts to declare it unconstitutional. Despite these ongoing challenges, the ACA remains largely intact as the U.S. heads into the 2020 election. The longer term fate of the law, however, is uncertain and the outcome of the 2020 election is likely to have a dramatic effect on the direction of health policy in the U.S.

Type
Perspective
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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