The Harris-Walz campaign is putting Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, on defense when it comes to their record on health care, a top policy issue after the economy for many Black voters.
With only five weeks left until Election Day on Nov. 5, Vice President Kamala Harris’ team published a report on Monday that the campaign is touting as the Trump-Vance “concept” plan on health care.
During his first debate against Harris, Trump claimed to have a “concept of a plan” when pressed on what he would do in the absence of the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — which he vowed for years to repeal.
The Harris-Walz campaign’s “report” compiles policy positions and public pronouncements from Trump and Vance, with the aim of laying out to impacted voters what a second Trump administration would mean for millions of Americans currently insured under a federal plan.
In an exclusive statement to theGrio, the Harris-Walz campaign emphasized what a White House controlled by Trump and Vance would mean for millions of Black Americans who currently have health insurance because of the 2010 health care law passed by former President Barack Obama.
“From the very beginning of this election, Donald Trump has been obsessed with repealing the signature achievement of the first Black president: Obamacare — which would result in health care coverage being ripped from millions of Black Americans,” Jasmine Harris, director of Black Media for the Harris-Walz campaign, told theGrio.
The campaign official said as vice president, Kamala Harris, along with President Joe Biden, “worked tirelessly to both protect and expand needed health care coverage for hard-working Americans.” She added, “The current administration has worked to ensure that more Black Americans have health care coverage now than ever before.”
Since launching his 2016 presidential campaign nine years ago, Trump made eliminating the ACA one of his signature policy goals. But as president, he and Republicans in Congress failed to develop a plan good enough to replace a health care system that has added more than 40 million Americans to insurance plans.
As the 2024 Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees, Trump and Vance also railed against President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The climate and health care law, made possible by Harris casting a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate, allows Medicare to better negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and caps the price of insulin for seniors.
Jasmine Harris, who has no relation to the vice president, said, “Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda and related health care plan would be a disaster for our community.” She added, “From working to cap the cost of insulin at $35 for all Americans to leading the charge in combating the Black maternal health crisis — Kamala Harris is the only candidate in this election who is prioritizing health care for Black America.”
Daniel Dawes, senior vice president and founding dean at the School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College, told theGrio that Trump’s “threats to dismantle” the ACA and cut Medicaid funding could “significantly reduce access” to health insurance programs and disproportionately harm Black Americans.
“His policies, including block granting and restricting Medicaid eligibility, increasing verification requirements, and reducing essential health benefits under Obamacare, would limit access to affordable care and worsen health disparities,” said Dawes, who previously served on an advisory board at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Trump’s political aim to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his record would lead to “retrenchment or regression” of policies that have expanded health rights and access to health resources to “prevent or treat chronic diseases and public health threats that disproportionately impact Black Americans,” noted Dawes.
He said those health threats include HIV, mental illness, gun violence, among others.
Though the ACA led to a significant increase of insured Black Americans, they are still disproportionately uninsured compared to white Americans, according to data tracked by KFF.
Black Americans also face racial disparities in health conditions. Health experts point out that repealing Obamacare would also mean Americans with preexisting conditions — who are disproportionately Black — would lose critical and life-saving health care, including those with private insurers.
The Harris-Walz report on the Trump-Vance plan cites data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that shows that repealing the ACA would increase the number of uninsured Black Americans to 20%, up from 11%.
The campaign’s report also warns of Trump’s proposed 20% tariff on all imported goods, including medicine. Drug prices would increase disproportionately for Black and Latino households, the campaign cautioned. The Trump-Vance “concept” plan would also include existing abortion bans, which the campaign cites would lead to a 12.3% increase of Black maternal deaths.
By contrast, the Harris-Walz campaign platform says its goals are to increase the insured rate among Black Americans to 90% and lowering health care premiums by an average of about $800 a year for millions of Americans.
The campaign also touts Harris’ work on expanding health care and lowering cost as vice president, including her explicit call for states to expand their Medicaid postpartum coverage from two months to 12 months. To date, 43 states have expanded that coverage. The Harris camp also notes that the Biden-Harris administration increased the number of Black and brown physicians, licensed midwives, doulas, and community health workers.
Dawes said the vice president’s track record and proposals “demonstrate an explicit and full commitment to prioritizing and actualizing health equity,” including racial disparities in maternal health, mental health and LGBTQ+ care.
He told theGrio, “Her efforts to strengthen Medicaid, support reproductive rights … and address the social determinants of health aim to ensure continued federal efforts to address the issues that have been denying Black Americans the opportunity to reach their full health potential.”