Introducing The Next Generation Of Leaders And Thinkers
The Latest

Day 101: Trump Says ‘ObamaCare is Dead’

byTheodora Moldovan
April 30, 2017

Yesterday marked President Trump’s 100th day in office, which he celebrated at a rally in Harrisburg, Pa., running away from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Mr. Trump is the first president to skip the dinner in 36 years, when Ronald Reagan did not attend because he was recovering from an assassination attempt. Nevertheless, Mr. Reagan still called in from his hospital room.

In an interview with Reuters, President Trump said that “[the presidency] is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”

After failing to meet most promises he made on ‘Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter’ and after receiving the lowest public approval of all presidents in polling history, it’s safe to say Mr. Trump has had a rough start. Columnist Nicholas Kristof stated that “[Trump] has had the worst beginning of any president since, oh, perhaps William Henry Harrison.” It should be noted that President Harrison died a month after his inauguration.

Here are Mr. Trump’s first 100 days in a 2-minute video and here are New York Times reporters recalling moments from the Trump administration’s first 100 days.

At the rally, swarmed by an army of red-hat-wearing supporters, Trump accused the media (CNN, MSNBC and The New York Times on this particular occasion) of dishonesty and incompetence. Earlier that day, President Trump tweeted that “mainstream (FAKE) news” refused to cover his “long list of achievements.”

While tweeting what was on his mind after watching Fox News that morning, Mr. Trump reported to the world that the leaderless Democratic Party has become a “party of obstruction” and that “ObamaCare is dead.” He then made another promise by saying that “[a] new healthcare plan is on its way,” moving forward with the Republican plan of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

Just this past Thursday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan declared that the House would consider a new Obamacare replacement bill “when we have the votes,” barely avoiding a government shutdown. Congress now has one more week to agree on a spending bill to fund the U.S. government through September. The 382-30 House vote on Friday was followed by a unanimous Senate vote to postpone the spending bill decision, hours before the shutdown deadline.

Representative Fred Upton, who has helped guide dozens of Obamacare repeal measures through the House in recent years, told the leadership on Friday that he was not ready to support the current bill. Recent revisions made the plan to repeal and replace the ACA worse, he said. Mr. Ryan refuses to answer how many more Republican votes they need but a Bloomberg News count shows that “at least 16 Republicans oppose the revised measure, not including Upton.” The party cannot guarantee the bill would pass without more than 22 GOP votes against it.

As insurers bolt, thousands of ACA customers are left without options. More than 12 million people have enrolled in marketplace insurance plans this year and because some insurers have decided not to offer marketplace coverage in 2018, customers in certain counties could be left with no plans to choose from.

This Bloomberg analysis shows the decline of insurers throughout the United States in the last four years.

Insurers are retracting their offers amidst financial risk due to Republican efforts to replace the law. While the Republican replacement bill does not currently look promising, GOP leadership is unlikely to quit trying anytime soon. Obamacare is not dead, Mr. Trump, but you sure are doing your best trying to kill it.

Author
Theodora Moldovan
Theodora is the junior editor at Affinity Magazine. Previously, she was a member of The New York Times Learning Network Student Council, and is currently an editor at Polyphony H.S., a literary magazine.
Related Posts