How Trump and Harris' health care positions and policy plans compare for the 2024 election

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have different positions on health policy in the United States, although in the 2024 presidential election, health care has not played as large a role important in the campaign than in 2016 or even 2020. During the election campaign, those on the left proposed a radical overhaul of Obamacare, while Republicans sought to repeal it.

Harris renounced single-payer health care

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris' position on the future of private health insurance was sometimes confusing. During a 2019 primary debate, Harris raised her hand when moderators asked the candidates if they would get rid of private health insurance. But soon after, she said no, she would not eliminate private health insurance.

In April 2019, Harris co-sponsored Senator Bernie Sanders' “Medicare for All” bill, which would have ended private health insurance and replaced it with a single government insurer for all Americans.

Harris released a health care plan in 2019 that would have put the United States on a 10-year path to government-backed health insurance, but would not eliminate private health insurance.

“We will allow private insurers to offer Medicare plans under this system that meet Medicare's strict cost and benefit requirements,” Harris said at the time. “Medicare will set the rules of conduct for these plans, including price and quality, and private insurance companies will follow those rules, not the other way around.”

Trump often brings up Harris' past support for “Medicare for All” on the campaign trail, accusing her of pledging to “force everyone into socialist, government-run health care with high taxes and deadly wait times.”

Harris' campaign says she won't push for single-payer government health insurance if she becomes president.

“I fully support, for four years as vice president, private health care options, but what we must do is maintain and expand the Affordable Care Act,” Harris said in her debate against Trump.

Trump says he has 'ideas' for health care plan

During the debate in Philadelphia, Trump said he would “replace” Obamacare, which congressional Republicans have largely abandoned in recent years. Trump and a Republican Congress attempted to “repeal and replace” Obamacare in 2017 and failed.

“Obamacare has always been a bad health care system,” Trump said. “It's not very good today. And what I said is if we find something and we work on things, we'll do it and we'll replace him.”

One of the moderators asked for a simple yes or no answer: Does he still not have a health care plan?

“I have ideas on a plan,” Trump said. “I'm not president right now, but if we find something, I will only change it if we find something better and cheaper. And there are concepts and options that we have to do to do it , and you will.” I will hear about it in the not too distant future.”

At rallies, Harris has described Trump's attacks on the Affordable Care Act as endangering some of the law's most popular provisions, such as guaranteeing coverage for people with preexisting conditions.

Trump has denied these claims. While president, he repeatedly vowed that the Republican Party's effort to replace Obamacare on Capitol Hill would maintain protections for pre-existing conditions.

Trump struggled to develop a health care plan while president, sometimes saying he would have a plan in “two weeks.”

As president, Trump opposed Obamacare after its passage, tweeting dozens of times to call for its repeal, but the most promising attempt to repeal the law failed with the late senator's dramatic negative vote John McCain in 2017.

Trump and Republicans have also attempted to repeal or weaken the Affordable Care Act in other ways. In December 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare. Its filing came the same day the government announced that nearly half a million people who lost health insurance due to the economic crisis had signed up for coverage through HealthCare.gov.

In that case, Texas and other GOP-led states argued that the ACA was essentially rendered unconstitutional after Congress passed Trump's 2017 tax cut, which eliminated unpopular fines for not have health insurance but left their insurance coverage requirement in place. The Supreme Court rejected the challenge.

In 2018, the Trump administration temporarily suspended risk adjustment payments to insurers – money used to fund insurers' sickest and costliest patients. In 2017, the Trump administration shortened the enrollment period and closed the federal health care exchange for 12 hours almost every Sunday.

Harris wants to continue Biden's crackdown on pharmaceutical companies

Harris called for expanding parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that target drug prices, in addition to “crackdown” on drugmakers and insurance “middlemen” who drive up costs.

Harris voted in 2022 for the Inflation Reduction Act, which allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices for its more than 60 million members.

So far, the Biden administration has set caps on the price of a number of drugs for Medicare patients, including Eliquis for blood clots, Entresto for heart failure and insulin. These will come into force in 2026.

Harris supports extending the law's caps on insulin prices and out-of-pocket spending beyond Medicare, as some members of Congress have proposed. Harris also wants to expand the bargaining program, allowing Medicare to more quickly set caps on more drugs.

Trump has also pledged to lower drug prices, although his campaign recently distanced itself from a proposal it had floated: reviving a controversial attempt to tie Medicare prices to other countries, which has was canceled in 2021 amid multiple legal challenges.

Trump says he wants to mandate IVF coverage, but congressional Republicans aren't so keen

Trump has said he either wants the government to fund in vitro fertilization (IVF) or force private insurance companies to pay for this expensive and intensive fertility procedure.

Infertility advocates have supported such proposals on Capitol Hill. A bill introduced by a handful of House Republicans over the summer would have required private health insurance plans to cover the procedure.

But Republicans on Capitol Hill don't necessarily all agree with Trump on mandating IVF coverage. IVF is an expensive procedure, costing between $12,000 and $24,000 per cycle. And many couples need multiple cycles of IVF to have a baby, since only about 36% of cycles result in a live birth for women aged 35 to 37 using their own eggs. This percentage drops to 8% per cycle for women over 40 using their own eggs.

Senate Republicans have twice blocked legislation that would protect access to IVF and require insurance companies to cover fertility care, a vote Senate Democrats took to call attention to the statements of Trump on fertility coverage. Only two Republicans – Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – voted with Democrats in favor of the bill.

“If Donald Trump and the Republicans want to protect people's right to access IVF, they can vote yes,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who sponsored the bill, told CBS News before the vote . “He showed that all it takes is one sentence from him and the Republican Party will get behind him.”

Senate Republicans have repeatedly expressed support for IVF, while saying the Democrats' legislation goes too far. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama introduced their own agenda this year to protect access to IVF, but Democrats rejected it, questioning its scope and enforcement.

Other Republicans, like former Gov. Nikki Haley, have said that access to IVF is a good thing, but that its coverage should not be mandatory.

“My two children were the fruit of fertility [treatments]” she told CBS News' “Face the Nation.” “We want this option to be available to everyone. But the way you do it is you don't impose coverage. Instead, you make sure the coverage is accessible and do everything you can to make it affordable. »

More than a dozen states and Washington, D.C., already require certain private insurance plans to cover IVF.

Kaia Hubbard and Alexander Tin contributed to this report.

More from CBS News

Catherine Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, DC.

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos