For ten years, Donald Trump has promised a healthcare plan that would be better and cheaper than Obamacare. During 60 Minutes on Oct. 31, he promised it again, right after admitting he still doesn’t have one.
When CBS’s Norah O’Donnell asked Trump a simple question, “Where is that plan?” she wasn’t being rhetorical. The president had just called Obamacare “terrible” and claimed he could fix it with the Democrats if the government reopens. He insisted that Americans were paying “too much” for healthcare. The problem? He’s been saying the same thing since 2015, and his plan still lives only in his imagination.
Trump’s new condition for fixing healthcare is that Democrats first reopen the government. The shutdown has now entered its second month, and Trump said, “We only need five Democrat hands.” He claimed that he’ll fix healthcare after that. But O’Donnell reminded him, politely, that he’s had nearly a decade to deliver. “Mr. President, with all due respect, you’ve been talking about fixing healthcare since 2015,” she remarked.
“We almost did it,” Trump replied, referring to the 2017 Senate failure, when John McCain’s thumbs-down killed a repeal bill. But it couldn’t actually replace the Affordable Care Act in the first place; it was only to partially repeal Obamacare. And regardless, that vote was eight years ago. And the truth is, the “great healthcare” Trump promised has never existed beyond slogans. No bill text. No budget. No Congressional Budget Office score. Just “concepts of a plan,” as he once called them.
Meanwhile, real people are facing real consequences. Democrats have offered to end the shutdown if Republicans agree to extend Obamacare subsidies that keep premiums affordable for 20 million Americans. Without an extension, those premiums will double in several states, including many that Trump won. But Trump’s excuse is to blame immigrants and prisoners:
“The problem is they want to give money to prisoners, to drug dealers, to all these millions of people that were allowed to come in with an open border from Biden. And nobody can do that. Not one Republican would ever do that.”
It has become a political deja vu at this point. Every promise to replace and improve the ACA leads back to the same empty podium. After a decade of “we’ll fix it,” Trump again gave the same answer: “I’m saying we can fix it, Norah.” But everyone knows the reality now. As one X user pointed out, “Nearly ten years of talking about a plan, and still nothing but a sketch. Healthcare is not fixed by slogans; it’s fixed by policy, and you’ve never delivered one. Only a concept of a plan.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
