One million AANHPI could lose healthcare under Trump's healthcare "concept"

More than one million Asian Americans would lose health coverage and those diagnosed with pre-existing conditions could be shut out of the healthcare market, if Donald Trump is elected.

In addition, more than 2 million Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander seniors would see dramatic increases in prescription drug prices under the sketchy "concept" of a health plan described by Trump, according to a report released today by the Harris-Walz campaign.

The Trump-Vance campaign has been deliberately vague on most issues, especially on the issue of healthcare because ,ost voters would be aghast if If the details of the Republican healthcare policies were unveiled. 

In the first debate, Trump vowed to end the Affordable Care Act. When pressed by the debate moderator, he replied, "I have a concept of a pla,” providing no details.

 

Days later, Vance was more specific outling the goals of the GOP plan: promising to bring back high-risk pools that would skyrocket costs for Americans with pre-existing conditions. That comes after Trump has promised to “never give up” on trying to “terminate” the ACA, which would rip insurance away from millions of Americans and raise costs for millions more. 

Trump and Vance have tried to hide the details of their plan by not releasing it in one place publicly, despite both Trump and Vance sharing the “concepts” of their plan publicly for a year. 

The Harris-Walz campaign’s new report says: " the Trump-Vance plan has four concepts: “rip insurance away from millions, including those with pre-existing conditions;” “raise the costs of prescription drugs and health insurance;” “cut Medicare and slash Medicaid;” and “ban abortion nationwide and rip away reproductive health.”

Since the passage of the ACA, the coverage disparity between Asian Americans and whites was eliminated across all income categories through coverage gains within Medicaid, the individual and ACA marketplaces, and employer-based insurance, according to independent nonpartisan studies.

Today, the Harris-Walz campaign report outlines dangerous consequences for Asian American communities if Trump were to be elected, including:

• More than 1 million Asian Americans would be stripped of their health insurance, and costs will skyrocket for patients across the state. 

• 11% percent of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) have been diagnosed with preexisting conditions and could be denied health coverage or charged thousands of dollars more under the Trump-Vance plan for high-risk pools.

• The Trump-Vance plan would roll back the Biden-Harris administration’s work to cap the price of insulin at $35 for seniors, cap the price of out-of-pocket drugs and negotiate with Medicare, would dramatically increase costs for more than 2 million AANHPPI elderly. Nearly 7% of Asian American adults with a prescription report rationing their drugs because of cost concerns. And more than 15% of Asian American seniors reported that they had problems affording their medication. 

• Donald Trump continues to brag about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade and unleashing cruel abortion bans across the country. If elected, he and Vance would go even further, banning abortion nationwide, jailing healthcare providers, tracking women and their pregnancies, restricting access to birth control, ripping away the right to emergency care, and endangering access to IVF – threatening the rights of 5 million AANHPI women of reproductive age.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X or at the blog Views From the Edge.