We don't know yet what Trump and his team will specifically introduce to replace the Affordable Care Act (or if they'll replace it at all), but we know enough to quake in fear about the potential to destroy so much of what has been so hard won in recent years.
President Barack Obama's health care law has made extraordinary gains for Americans. It has increased health insurance access for 25 to 30 million Americans and insured consumer protections, including no payment for preventative care, no annual limits on insurance coverage and no denials for pre-existing conditions.
The law has also made a host of public health gains, like ending siloed health and social services and promoting community care networks that care for the whole person; incentivizing a move away from payments driven by doing more (sometimes a lot more unnecessary care) to payments based on doing better care with measurable results; building a health care workforce for the future; and supporting community-based, accessible and affordable clinics.
People will suffer if...
Dr. Lloyd Sederer is a psychiatrist and public health doctor. The opinions offered here are entirely his own. He takes no support from any pharmaceutical or device company.
Dr. Lloyd’s two new books are now available: Improving Mental Health: Four Secrets in Plain Sight (2016) and Controversies in Mental Health and Addictions: An Expert’s Anthology (2017)