After securing a second US presidential term, Republican Donald Trump has outlined a host of proposed changes to the country’s healthcare system, including giving staunch anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a free rein on health, drug and food policy.
Trump secured the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency in the early hours of Wednesday, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in a highly contentious campaign.
During the presidential campaign, Trump and Harris highlighted the deep divide between Republican and Democratic views on American health policy.
Harris has called for expanding access to birth control, capping prescription drug costs and protecting abortion rights. She also strongly defended the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), a law that Trump unsuccessfully tried to dismantle in 2017.
Trump, on the other hand, has been relatively quiet on health care policies, choosing instead to focus on issues like immigration and inflation.
However, during the presidential debate in September, he stated that he had “plan concepts” for health care.
Now that Trump has secured his presidency, here’s what he said about health care.
Let RFK Jr. “Getting going” with regard to health
On October 28, during a campaign rally, Trump proposed letting Kennedy, a staunch vaccine skeptic, take charge of the nation’s food and drug agencies.
Trump told the crowd: “Robert F. “Kennedy cares about people, health and the environment more than anyone else.” “I’ll let him get busy with his health, I’ll let him get busy with food, I’ll let him get busy with his medications.”
Kennedy said that Trump promised him control of the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the US Department of Agriculture, According to what was reported by several media outlets.
However, in an interview with CNN last week, Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick said Kennedy would not be in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, but suggested he could advise on vaccines.
Lutnick said Kennedy wanted access to federal health data so he could show vaccines were unsafe, which led to them being pulled from the market in the second Trump administration.
Over the Kennedy years Promoted unproven theories About the dangers of childhood vaccines, he has long promoted the false idea that they cause autism.
The World Health Organization has estimated that global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives in the past 50 years.
The Trump administration will also push to remove fluoride from American drinking water on his first day in office, according to Kennedy.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all of the United States. Water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Kennedy stated that fluoride is an industrial waste linked to arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, loss of IQ, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. in office.
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Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken with Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds good to me.” You know this is possible.
Health plan concepts
On the 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly pledged to repeal Obamacare, and after his election, when the House of Representatives voted to do so, he welcomed Republican representatives to the White House to celebrate. But repeal efforts failed in the Senate in July 2017.
In June 2020, the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to block the law, but the court rejected the case.
Since then, Trump has wavered on whether he plans to try to repeal it again.
In November 2023, Trump commented on this issue On his social media platform Truth Social.
“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus it’s not good health care. I’m seriously looking at alternatives,” he wrote. “We had two Republican senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, then raised their hands not to end it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!
In March 2024 it is Books on social truth He “is not seeking to end” the Affordable Care Act, but he wants to make it “better” and “less expensive.”
When asked about health care in the televised debate with Harris on September 10, he repeated his claim that “Obamacare was lousy health care.”
“It’s not good today. And what I said is if we come up with something and work on it, we’ll do it and we’ll replace it,” Trump said.
“I have concepts for the plan. I’m not president at the moment, but if we come up with something, I won’t change it unless we come up with something better and less expensive. There are concepts and options we have for doing that, and you’ll be hearing about them in the not too distant future.”
Trump took credit for appointing the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
However, since winning the Republican primary earlier this year, he has said he would not support a national ban on abortions, and that individual states should be free to restrict abortion as they choose.
He called for exceptions to any ban to include incidents of rape and incest or to protect the health of the mother. However, Trump said in August He will vote against An amendment in Florida to protect abortion rights would lift the abortion ban for six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.
Trump has wavered in his stance on mifepristone, a drug used in medical abortions, and recently made headlines when abortion opponents unsuccessfully challenged the FDA’s approval of the drug.
In an interview published in April 2024 by Time magazineTrump declined to comment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
“Well, I have an opinion on it, but I’m not going to explain it. I’m not going to say that yet. But I have very strong views on it. I’ll probably release it within the next week,” he said in an interview with Time magazine.
In the first presidential debate of 2024 with President Joe Biden in June, Trump stated that he would not restrict access to abortion medications if elected.
However, Project 2025, a conservative governance blueprint drawn up by former Trump officials and other close advisers, and which he said he is not involved in, calls on the FDA to withdraw its approval of mifepristone.
In August, Trump said that if he wins a second term, he wants to make IVF treatment free for families.
The statements follow a wave of anger and warnings from doctors who say that overturning Roe v. Wade and state restrictions on reproductive health care, as well as legislative efforts to define the fetus as a person, would jeopardize IVF because it uses embryos and common reproductive medications.
“I am announcing today that under the Trump administration, your government will pay, or your insurance company will be authorized to pay, all costs associated with IVF treatment,” he said during a campaign rally.
However, the former president did not explain how he would fund it or how it would work.
Cutting funding for schools that require vaccines
During the COVID-19 pandemic, in December 2021, Trump told former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly that he had received the booster shot.
In an interview with Candace Owens released two days later, Trump responded when Owens suggested the shots were not safe.
“Oh no, the vaccine works,” Trump interrupted Owens, saying she had not been vaccinated. “The people who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones who don’t get the vaccine.”
Although Trump has officially endorsed COVID-19 vaccines and credited his administration for their rapid development, he has also been outspoken in his criticism of the vaccines.
In March 2024, Trump promised To cut funding for public schools that require childhood vaccines if re-elected in 2024.
“I will not give a dime to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” Trump declared.
All 50 states require itE. Certain vaccinations for school enrollment.
—With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
