From President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign:
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Health Care Leaders Warn of Threat Posed by Second Trump Term |
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The following is a statement from Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler following a letter signed by 50 health care officials warning of the dangers of a second Trump presidency and threats posed to health care access: “Every chance Trump got while in office, he made it his mission to rip health care away from working families. And pushing to ‘terminate’ the Affordable Care Act is just the start for Trump if he’s reelected – he’s now running to go even further. A second Trump presidency would mean the American people would risk getting sicker, going broke, both, or worse with soaring prescription drug costs, the elimination of protections for patients with preexisting conditions, and wins for Big Pharma at the expense of working families. This November, voters will send President Biden back to the White House because he is the candidate who won’t just protect our health care, but will do everything he can to lower costs and improve our health care.” Today’s letter comes as Team Biden-Harris is communicating directly with voters about the consequences of Trump’s attacks on Americans’ health care. Yesterday, Team Biden-Harris launched “Terminate,” an ad focused on Trump’s long-standing assault on the Affordable Care Act, which provides a lifeline for tens of million Americans and an issue that has lost Trump and Republicans election after election. This ad is running as part of a new $14 million campaign for the month of May and will air on TV and digital across battleground states.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Healthcare Leaders Warn of Trump’s Threat to Public Health To the American People: We write today as people who have dedicated our lives to helping people. As former leaders of national health care and delivery organizations, we have come to understand how policy can impact public health and, just as importantly, the ability of American families to afford the healthcare they need. The possibility of Americans not receiving essential healthcare, either due to cost or lack of access, is among our greatest worries. If he is elected president, Donald Trump will make our fears a reality. The price of healthcare for American families under Trump would skyrocket, while millions would lose access to healthcare altogether. While his specific policies are at best ambiguous, his track record and his words make clear the damage he would do. We therefore encourage anyone concerned about the price, availability, and safety of healthcare to keep Mr. Trump out of the White House. Mr. Trump’s ambiguity on healthcare policy is our first reason for concern. As Larry Levitt, the Executive Vice President for Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation put it, “the Trump campaign does not issue the typical policy papers that are provided by presidential candidates.” We therefore must “surmise” what Trump will do based on his prior record and his recent remarks. What we can surmise is troubling. Our concerns involve many of the most important issues impacting the cost of healthcare and people’s access to it. The Affordable Care Act: People without health insurance live sicker and die younger. By making health insurance available to millions of previously uninsured Americans, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) made countless Americans healthier and saved many lives. It also expanded Medicaid eligibility, bringing health care access to millions of others. Mr. Trump tried unsuccessfully to repeal the ACA and supported an unsuccessful lawsuit to overturn it. He did, however, repeal the individual mandate penalty, which drove up the cost of insurance for all participants, and reduced funding for consumer assistance navigators by 84% and outreach by 90%. This made it harder to coordinate care for those insured, and resulted in decreased enrollment among eligible individuals and their families. He also shortened the enrollment period by half, from 12 weeks to 6 weeks, leading to decreasing enrollment. The Trump administration also supported the expansion of short-term insurance products which discriminate against sicker people, or those with pre-existing conditions, making it harder and more expensive for those groups to obtain coverage. These short-term policies frequently have reduced benefits and limited coverage. In the current campaign, Trump has vowed to repeal and replace the ACA, but has provided no details as to how he plans to accomplish that. As the ACA’s premium subsidies are set to expire in 2025, the next president will have the chance to implement major changes. Given his opposition to these subsidies in the past, we can only assume that these subsidies would be limited under a Trump administration. In 2017, the American Medical Association called Mr. Trump’s proposed replacement for the ACA “critically flawed.” We have every reason to think that the plan for a second Trump Administration would be worse. Children’s Healthcare: During his first administration, Mr. Trump attempted to cut seven billion dollars out of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides essential healthcare for millions of children. We believe that children should not be punished simply because their parents cannot afford health insurance, and that providing health insurance for children is the very least we as a society owe them. Cutting funds from CHIP does not even make fiscal sense, as most healthcare for children is preventative care that keeps us from having to fix bigger, more expensive medical issues down the road. Public Health: While Trump did sign the bipartisan COVID relief bill which enabled Operation Warp Speed to bring vaccines to availability in a year, the administration’s overall response to the COVID epidemic was wanting. Mr. Trump fought publicly with his advisors, promulgated ineffective treatments, and politicized the governmental response. The resulting chaos was reflected in a growing disrespect for government public health agencies and mistrust of vaccines that protect us, particularly the most vulnerable among us. In the current campaign, he has called for restructuring or eliminating the FDA and the CDC, organizations that have historically protected us from disasters due to ineffective or dangerous pharmaceuticals and deadly infections. Such changes would sicken countless Americans and make American medical care far less safe and effective. Veterans’ health: The Trump administration made it possible for Veterans to seek care outside the VA system, but then undercut efforts to fund the program. Veterans have earned the right to access healthcare. We cannot trust an administration that would quietly try to take it from them. Reproductive Health Care: Trump has boasted that he is personally responsible for the overturn of Roe v Wade by the judges who he appointed to the Supreme Court. While the implications of the Dobbs decision are still unfolding, there has been a chilling effect on other aspects of reproductive care, including in vitro fertilization. IVF is not only a last hope for couples facing infertility issues, but is also important for people facing fertility-endangering consequences of chemotherapy and other conditions. The Trump administration also supported a Title X gag rule on providers discussing abortion with patients. They excluded Planned Parenthood and other similar organizations from the Federal Family Planning Program in an attempt to restrict abortion and family planning access. Regulatory changes also allowed employers and providers to more easily decline to participate in activities which they claimed would violate their religions or moral beliefs. The Heritage Foundation Project 2025 states that “The CDC should ensure that it is not promoting abortion as health care.” Were a second Trump administration to follow through on such a recommendation, and we have every reason to assume it would, it would be putting countless women in danger based on guidance that is simply incorrect. We, the undersigned, as former leaders of national health care and delivery organizations, understand the critical role that health policy plays in helping Americans live longer, healthier lives. Accordingly, we believe that a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for more expensive, more dangerous, and less accessible healthcare. We believe a second Trump administration would be harmful to the health of American families. We urge Americans of all stripes to reject him and his policies. Sincerely, Andrew W. Gurman MD Former president, American Medical Association Clara Adams-Ender RN, BSN, MSN, MMAS, PhD, FAAN, LLAN Brigadier General (Ret), USA Former Commanding General, Ft. Belvoir & Chief, Army Nurse Corps, USA Omar T. Atiq MD, MACP President Emeritus, American College of Physicians Edward Baker MD, MPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, PHPP/CDC & Deputy Director, NIOSH/CDC Donna Barbisch DHA, RN Major General (Ret), USA Former Director, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Integration, USA Jacqueline A. Bello MD Former chair, American Medical Association Council on Medical Education Ronald Blanck DO, MACP Lieutenant General (Ret), USA Former Surgeon General, USA Lonnie R. Bristow MD Former president, American Medical Association Kristine Campbell PhD, RN Brigadier General (Ret), USAR Former Assistant Surgeon General, USAR Peter W. Carmel MD, PhD Former president, American Medical Association Mitchell Cohen MD Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, CCID/CDC Molly Cooke MD President Emerita, American College of Physicians José F. Cordero MD, MPH, FAAP Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, NCBDDD/CDC & Deputy Director, NIP/CDC Mary Pat Couig PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Chief Nurse Officer, USPHS & Associate Director, CDER/FDA Charles Cutler MD Former chair, board of regents, American College of Physicians Jack Ende MD, MACP President Emeritus, American College of Physicians Marlene Haffner MD, MPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, Office of Orphan Products Development/FDA Bryan Hardin PhD, ATS Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Deputy Director, NIOSH/CDC Clare Helminiak MD, MPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Chief Medical Officer, USPHS Alan Hinman MD, MPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, NCPS/CDC Ardis D. Hoven MD Former president, American Medical Association James Hughes MD, FIDSA Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, NCID/CDC Douglas Kamerow MD, MPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, Center for Practice & Technology Assessment, AHRQ W. Robert Kiser MD, MBA, MS (Bioethics) Rear Admiral (Ret), USN Former Inaugural Commandant, Medical Education & Training Campus, Ft. Sam Houston William Lassek MD Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Regional Health Administrator, USDHHS Richard Lemen PhD, MSPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Acting Director & Deputy Director, NIOSH/CDC David Lichtman MD Rear Admiral (Ret), USN Former Commanding Officer, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, USN Former President, American Society for Surgery of the Hand Samuel Lin MD, PhD, MBA, MPA, MS Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, USDHHS Boris Lushniak MD, MPH, FAAD, FACPM Rear Admiral & Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. (Ret), USPHS Former Acting Surgeon General of the U.S., USPHS Barbara L. McAneny MD Former president, American Medical Association William McDaniel MD Rear Admiral (Ret), USN Former Commander, Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, USN Michael Mittelman OD, MPH, MBA, FACHE, FAAO Rear Admiral (Ret), USN Former Deputy Surgeon General, USN Kenneth Moritsugu MD, MPH, FACPM Rear Admiral & Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. (Ret), USPHS Former Acting Surgeon General of the U.S., USPHS Audrey Nora MD, MPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, Bureau of Maternal & Child Health, HRSA Patrick W. O’Carroll MD, PPH, FACPM, FACMI Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Regional Health Administrator, USDHHS Gale Pollock CRNA, FACHE, FAAN Major General & Deputy Surgeon General (Ret), USA Former Acting Surgeon General & Chief, Army Nurse Corps, USA Charles Roadman MD Lieutenant General (Ret), USAF Former Surgeon General, USAF Mark Rosenberg MD, MPH Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Director, NCIPC/CDC William S. Stokes DVM, DACAW, DACLAW Rear Admiral & Assistant Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Chief Veterinary Officer, USPHS & Director, NICEATM/NIEHS Loree Sutton MD, MS Brigadier General (Ret), USA Former Commander, DeWitt Army Community Hospital, USA Robin Umberg MBA, RN Brigadier General (Ret), USA Former Chief of Professional Services, 3rd Medical Command, USA Craig Vanderwagen MD Rear Admiral & Deputy Surgeon General (Ret), USPHS Former Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response, USDHHS Deborah Wheeling MS, MSN, BSN Major General (Ret), ARNG/USA Former Deputy Surgeon General, ARNG/USA Robert Whitney, Jr. DVM, MS, DACLAM Rear Admiral & Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. (Ret), USPHS Former Acting Surgeon General of the U.S., USPHS Margaret Wilmoth PhD, MSS, RN, FAAN Major General (Ret), USA Former Deputy Surgeon General, USAR Cecil B Wilson MD Former president, American Medical Association Former chair, board of regents, American College of Physicians Michael Wyrick MHA Major General (Ret), USAF Former Deputy Surgeon General, USAF Stephen Xenakis MD Brigadier General (Ret), USA Former Commanding General, Southeast Regional Medical Command, USA |
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