ObamaCare – watercress words by Dr Aletha

2024 Presidential Debate: Trump vs. Harris on Health Issues

This post shares a summary of the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, from the KFF Health News website and republished by permission.

I watched the first and possibly only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. I was pleased that the moderators asked healthcare questions since the economy, immigration, crime, inflation, and overseas wars are also important campaign topics.

I’m bringing you this in-depth report about the debate from KFF Health News a national newsroom that produces in-depth, non-partisan journalism about health issues.

I have not edited this news report which is reprinted by permission. Posting on this blog does not imply my agreement or endorsement. If you did not listen to the debate, I recommend you listen to a recording before you vote.

Trump, Harris Spar Over Abortion Rights and Obamacare in Their First Face-Off

KFF Health News and PolitiFact staffs

September 11, 2024

When Vice President Kamala Harris walked across the debate stage Tuesday night to shake the hand of former President Donald Trump, it was the first time the two had met in person. But that was the rare collegial moment in a face-off otherwise marked by false and sometimes bizarre statements by the former president.

The debate was hosted by ABC with moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, who occasionally fact-checked Trump. He complained on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning that it was a “three-to-one” contest.

The two presidential candidates covered a wide range of issues — from job and inflation numbers to abortion and immigration — in exchanges marked by personal attacks. As our PolitiFact partners noted, Harris often directly addressed Trump while answering the moderators’ questions. Trump mostly stared straight ahead. In response to Trump’s claims about the Biden administration’s record on crime, Harris cited Trump’s criminal conviction in New York and other indictments.

The moderators questioned Trump about whether he would attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare — the health insurance program he pledged and failed to repeal and replace during his previous administration.

He said, if president, he would “only change it if we come up with something that’s better and less expensive.” He went on to say, “There are concepts and options we have to do that, and you’ll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.”

Trump has promised an Obamacare replacement since he was on the campaign trail in 2015. He claimed during the debate that he “saved” the ACA by issuing regulations aimed at lowering insurance premiums.

Harris’ previous support for “Medicare for All,” a proposal to replace private health insurance with a government-run health system, drew questions from the moderators and attacks by Trump.

Abortion was a clear flash point. Harris called state restrictions on the procedure enacted since 2022 “Trump abortion bans” and said it was immoral to take away a woman’s ability to make decisions about her own body. She also pledged to sign any bill that would reinstate the protections outlined in Roe v. Wade, which the Supreme Court overturned in 2022.

Trump said that as president he would never face the question of signing a national abortion ban because the issue is now being settled in states. “I’m not signing a ban,” he said. “There’s no reason to sign a ban.”

Trump also resurfaced claims — repeatedly judged false by PolitiFact and other fact-checking organizations — that Democrats support abortions up to the moment of birth and the “execution” of babies after birth. ABC’s Davis flagged Trump’s statement, saying that willfully terminating a newborn’s life is illegal in every state. In addition, the majority of Democrats support abortion access up to fetal viability, when the fetus is able to survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Harris brought up Project 2025, a policy blueprint created by the conservative Heritage Foundation from which Trump has sought to distance himself.

Moments after the debate ended, pop superstar Taylor Swift posted on Instagram that she would be voting for Harris “because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” Swift’s post featured a photo of her with her cat and was signed “Childless Cat Lady” — a reference to comments made by JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Our PolitiFact partners fact-checked the debate in real time on a live blog, with more coverage here, as Harris and Trump clashed on the economy, immigration, and abortion.

Excerpts detailing specific health-related claims follow.

Trump: “But the governor before, he said, ‘The baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby.’”

False.

Trump initially referenced a West Virginia governor. He meant Virginia, and corrected himself later in the debate.

Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat and a physician, never said he would sanction the execution of newborns. What he did say during a 2019 radio interview is that in rare, late-pregnancy cases when fetuses are nonviable, doctors deliver the baby, keep it comfortable, resuscitate it if the family wishes, and then have a “discussion” with the mother.

The issue is that Northam declined to say what that discussion would entail. Trump puts words in the then-governor’s mouth, saying doctors would urge the mother to let them forcibly kill the newborn, which is a felony in Virginia (and all other states) punishable by a long prison sentence or death.

Trump: “Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative, they all wanted [abortion] to be brought back to the states where the people could vote.”

False.

The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision inspired legions of supporters and opponents. Before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it in 2022, numerous legal scholars wrote briefs urging the court to uphold the ruling.

Some legal scholars who favor abortion rights have criticized the 1973 ruling’s legal underpinnings, saying that different constitutional arguments, based on equal protection, would have provided a stronger case. But legal experts, including some who held this view, said those scholars would not have advocated for overturning Roe on this basis.

Trump: On the Affordable Care Act, “I saved it.”

False.

During 2016, Trump campaigned on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. While president, he sought to repeal the measure — and failed.

But his administration pursued various policies that hindered its reach and effectiveness, including cutting millions of dollars in advertising and outreach funding. He cut subsidies to insurance companies that offered coverage on the exchanges. He also took regulatory steps to permit less expensive and less comprehensive health coverage — for example, short-term health plans that didn’t comply with the ACA.

During the Trump administration, ACA enrollment declined, and the number of uninsured Americans rose by 2.3 million from 2016 to 2019, including 726,000 children, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Trump: Harris “wants everybody to be on government insurance” for health care.

This is misleading.

Harris once co-sponsored a bill to expand Medicare to Americans of all ages, but she does not currently support this proposal.

In April 2019, Harris became one of 14 original co-sponsors of the Medicare for All Act of 2019 sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The legislation would have established a national health insurance program administered by the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

The bill would have created an automatic, federally run health insurance program for all Americans, which would mirror the socialized medicine systems in such countries as the United Kingdom.

Harris backed the bill when she was preparing to run in the 2020 presidential primaries and many candidates believed that Democratic base voters wanted the most liberal positions possible.

However, Medicare for All failed to advance to a vote in the Senate. After her 2020 candidacy ended, Harris focused instead on bolstering the ACA as opposed to pushing for Medicare for All.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

Exploring the HEART of Health

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Dr. Aletha

How the Democratic and Republican party platforms differ

This piece presents a comparative analysis of the Democratic and Republican party platforms. The platforms, being polar opposites, address pressing political issues through their respective conservative and liberal views. They distinctly differ on social issues such as marriage, reproduction, abortion, schools, immigration, religion, and sexuality. The post emphasizes exploring these platforms for better-informed voting decisions during the 2024 national elections.

updated December 5, 2023

I’ve written about how the Democratic and Republican parties differ in views on healthcare by reviewing specific points in the party platforms. In this post, I’m going to step away from looking at specifics and share my general observations about the platforms themselves.

A party platform is a set of principles, goals, and strategies designed to address pressing political issues. Each party’s platform is broken down into “planks,” or declarations that speak to each specific issue.
Teach Democracy

I’m mostly highlighting differences because the platforms are as different as the parties are-one conservative, and one liberal. They both claim to love America and democracy and want to defend, preserve, and improve our way of life. But the way they want to do so is as different as RED is from BLUE.

I intend for these posts to be non-partisan but because I’m sharing my own observations this one may look more like an opinion. I’m using these posts for my own education as well as yours, so we can be better informed and inspired voters.

I have been a registered voter since I was 18, being one of the first to benefit from the 26th Amendment that changed the voting age from 21 years to 18 years.

I have been registered with both major parties and have voted for candidates in both parties, so I have no allegiance to either one. If these observations seem biased, it is strictly unintentional. So let’s take a look.

Note: I chose the photos for illustration, they are not affiliated with either party.

When were the platforms written?

Usually, platforms are written or revised on the years the parties meet for the convention that nominates the presidential candidate.

Republicans

The Republicans last did that in 2016 when Donald Trump was nominated and won the election. In 2020 when he ran for reelection during the COVID pandemic, they deferred writing a new platform citing

“strict restrictions on gatherings and meetings, and out of concern for the safety of convention attendees and our hosts;” and “in appreciation of the fact that it did not want a small contingent of delegates formulating a new platform without the breadth of perspectives within the ever-growing Republican movement.”

It went on to state

“The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and the Republican Party and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.”

RESOLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention.”

The RNC also passed a resolution in 2022 “reaffirming” its commitment to the platform”.

Democrats

In 2020 the Democrats held a convention, conducted mostly virtually, and wrote a new party platform. Their candidate Joe Biden won the presidential election. According to their website,

“Every four years, Democrats from across the country join together to craft our party’s platform. The platform is created to uplift working people and write out the values that will guide our party for years to come.”

The platform was considered by the 2020 Platform Committee at its meeting on July 27, 2020, and was approved by the Democratic National Convention on August 18, 2020.

How long are the party platforms?

The Democrats take first place for length. As a PDF document, 86 pages are devoted to text. There are 11 sections, most of which are also divided into different categories.

The Republican document is brief in comparison, 58 pages, divided into 6 sections.

How do the party platforms differ?

The platforms read and sound different in tone and emphasis. I think the Democratic platform can be likened to a “campaign speech” while the Republican document sounds more like a “state of the union” message.

Democrats – the party of change

“Campaign speech”
Action-oriented
Problem specific
Future directed
Diversity, inclusivity

Republicans- the party of stability

“State of the union”
Policy-oriented
Maintain the status quo
General concepts
Build on the past
Conformity, consistency

What do the platforms say about the other party?

Both of the platforms comment on the other party unfavorably multiple times.

Written in 2016 during the presidency of Democrat Barack Obama, the Republican platform was repeatedly critical of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, otherwise known as ObamaCare, as well as other aspects of President Obama’s administration.

The President (Obama) and the Democratic Party have dismantled Americans’ system of healthcare. They have replaced it with a costly and complicated scheme that limits choices and takes away our freedoms.

The President and the Democratic party have abandoned their promise of being accountable to the American people.

Written in 2020, the Democratic platform opened with scathing criticism of President Trump’s management of the pandemic and continued throughout the document on other issues.

The bill has come due on the Trump Administration’s hollowing out of our public institutions: the sidelining of experts, the rejection of science, the underinvestment in research, and the gross corruption and abuses of power.

President Trump’s dereliction of duty has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, the loss of tens of millions of American jobs, and lasting harm to our children’s education and future.

Most of the criticisms are then followed by how or what their party and candidate will do differently.

What do the platforms say about social issues?

You don’t have to read the platforms to know that Democrats and Republicans differ drastically on social issues such as marriage, reproduction, abortion, schools, immigration, religion, and sexuality. The aftermath of the recent (2022) Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe vs. Wade shows that pointedly. These differences are spelled out in the platforms but each party approaches them from different angles, not categorizing them the same way.

I will devote additional posts to these topics. On some of them, one platform says more than the other so the content will not exactly parallel. I’ll do my best to lay out both sides but encourage you to do your homework and review the entire platform.

exploring the HEART of healthcare politics

Please follow the above links to the party platforms and bookmark them for easy reference. The next year will be caucuses, primaries, and party conventions with the platforms updated. The process culminates on the next national election day, Tuesday, November 5, 2024.