More Lies

Yet More Jaw-Dropping Lies From the Trump Administration

KEVIN DRUM

I suppose we’re all used to it by now, but the brazenness of the lies from the Trump administration is pretty jaw dropping.

Actually, over 20 million people have been insured by the Affordable Care Act, but that’s sort of a garden-variety Trump lie. The real chutzpah comes from his crocodile tears over the fact that 28 million people remain uninsured. Here’s what the numbers look like under Obamacare and Trumpcare, as estimated by the CDC and the CBO:

Obamacare reduced the number of uninsured from 44 million to 28 million. Trump is right that this is still too many, but Trumpcare would increase the number to 47 million within five years of passage.

Oh, and Obamacare didn’t raise average family premiums by $3,000 either. The best comparison I can find is for individual premiums, and Brookings estimates that they decreased about $700 after Obamacare went into effect. Add in an average subsidy of about $400, and individual premiums went down $1,100. Family premiums followed the same trajectory, and probably decreased about $3,000 or so.

Obamacare is hardly faultless, but overall it’s been enormously successful. It delivered insurance to millions who couldn’t get it before; it reduced premiums for most people; it required health care policies to deliver decent coverage; and it prohibited insurance companies from turning down people with pre-existing conditions. Trumpcare would undo all of that. All of it.