Republican Donald Trump shocked the U.S. and the world with his victory in the presidential race on Tuesday beating main rival, Democrat Hilary Clinton with 279 electoral votes out of 538, against Clinton’s 228 (result as of 10 Nov).
With Trump’s plans on ‘repealing’ the Affordable Care Act (ACA) established by incumbent president Barack Obama, healthcare leaders across the U.S. are now wondering about the future of the sector.
Trump’s presidency combined with the Combined with the GOP's control of the Senate and the House, the road for the Republicans to repeal or roll back the ACA is clear.
Trump
has described the ACA as an ‘incredible economic burden’ for American citizens.
On his online campaign platform he has vowed to fully repeal the act.
“On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare,” he says. He goes on to say that healthcare reforms will follow free market principles.
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Republican control over the White House and Congress could spell the end to expansion of Medicaid. To date, the scheme has been implemented in 31 states while 19 have not yet implemented it.
However, there are divisions amongst Conservatives over healthcare and Democrats could sue their filibuster to create obstacles to severe ACA reforms.
Meanwhile, a Modern Healthcare CEO Power Panel (which includes leaders of
hospitals, insurance companies, physician groups, trade associations and other
not-for-profit advocacy groups) poll held in the second quarter of this year
showed that the majority of healthcare leaders opposed repealing the ACA. More than 65 percent said they were against reforms while the remainder said it
depended on how changes would be implemented. Proposed reforms were endorsed by
2.3 percent of respondents.
A Gallup report covering aspects of American public opinion on healthcare indicated that the public is generally content
with their own healthcare saying most “do not perceive that healthcare is in a
crisis”. But they are not so positive about the ACA.
In
his acceptance speech to supporters in the early hours of this morning Trump
called for unity. "It is time for us to come together as one united
people," he said.
Source: Modern Healthcare, donaldjtrump.com, Gallup.com
Image Credit: Donald Trump Twitter
