President Donald Trump and his allies have liked to accuse Congressional Democrats of being “do nothing,” but simply considering the sheer volume of time that Trump has spent watching television and tweeting about it, the real one guilty of being “do nothing” in this situation is pretty clear. This Friday, former President Barack Obama shared a reminder on Twitter about the open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care plans opening up this Friday, helping pick up some of the slack that the Trump team has left. Despite continued availability of affordable plans — according to one analysis from Get America Covered, a resounding majority of Americans can find one for less than $10 a month — much of the Trump administration’s public messaging has been against the health coverage.
Obama shared:
‘Today’s the first day of open enrollment on http://HealthCare.gov, and high-quality coverage might be more affordable than you think. Nearly 9 in 10 http://HealthCare.gov customers qualify for financial help—so if you or someone you know needs insurance, #GetCovered today.’
Obama’s tweet — which will be visible to millions of people — helps make up for Trump administration decisions like a massive slash to the budget for marketing ACA plans. Under the Trump administration, enrollment in those plans has steadily declined by over one million.
The Trump administration has gone beyond the negative public messaging stage numerous times already with attempts to dismantle the ACA/Obamacare framework. One of the very first legislation attempts that the Trump team got going was a repeal of Obamacare, but that never actually happened. However, they did accomplish steps like the repeal of the individual mandate demanding that Americans have health coverage or pay a fine. They’ve also backed a lawsuit from some Republican state attorneys general seeking to throw the whole law out.
Signaling where the Trump administration’s priorities really lie, the first major legislative accomplishment that they did manage was a tax system overhaul that mostly benefited high-income Americans. The measure dramatically slashed corporate tax rates and left lower-income Americans bearing the burden.
Check out Twitter’s response to Obama…
