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After securing a second presidential term in the United States, Republican Donald Trump has outlined a series of proposed changes to the country's health care system, including giving the freedom to staunch anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “go wild” in the areas of health, medicine and food policy.
Trump secured the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency in the early hours of Wednesday, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in a highly controversial campaign.
During the presidential campaign, Trump and Harris highlighted the deep divide between Republican and Democratic views on U.S. health policy.
Harris advocated expanding access to contraception, limiting prescription drug costs and protecting abortion rights. She also strongly defended the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), a law that Trump unsuccessfully tried to dismantle in 2017.
Meanwhile, Trump has remained relatively silent on his health care policies, choosing to focus on issues like immigration and inflation.
However, during the presidential debate in September, he stated that he has “concepts for a plan” for health care.
Now that Trump has secured his presidency, here's what he's said about healthcare.
RFK Jr. 'letting go' in the field of health
On October 28, Trump proposed at a campaign rally that Kennedy, an ardent vaccine skeptic, take charge of the nation's food and drug agencies.
“Robert F. Kennedy cares more about people, health and the environment than anyone else,” Trump told the crowd. “I'm going to let him go on the health, I'm going to let him go on the food, I'm going to let him go on the medicine.”
Kennedy has said that Trump promised him control of the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. according to various media outlets.
However, in an interview with CNN last week, Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick said Kennedy will not be in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, but suggested he could advise on vaccines.
Lutnick did say that Kennedy wants access to federal health data so he can prove that vaccines are unsafe, which would cause them to be taken off the market in a second Trump administration.
Kennedy has done that over the years promoted unproven theories about the dangers of vaccinations for children and has long advanced the debunked idea that they cause autism.
The World Health Organization estimates that global vaccination efforts have saved at least 154 million lives over the past fifty years.
According to Kennedy, a Trump administration will also push for the removal of fluoride from America's drinking water on its first day in office.
On Saturday, Kennedy went to X and claimed, without evidence, that fluoride is an “industrial waste” linked to a number of diseases.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all US. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease,” said Kennedy. in his message.
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Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not yet discussed fluoride with Kennedy, “but it sounds good to me. You know it is possible.”
'Concepts' of a health plan
In his 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to repeal Obamacare and after his election, when the House voted to do so, he welcomed Republican representatives to the White House for a celebration. But the attempted repeal failed in the Senate in July 2017.
In June 2020, the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to block the law, but the court dismissed the case.
Trump has since questioned whether he plans to withdraw the proposal again.
In November 2023, Trump has weighed in on the issue on his social media platform Truth Social.
“The costs of Obamacare are out of control, and besides, it's not good health care. I am seriously looking at alternatives,” he wrote. “We had some Republican senators who campaigned against it for six years and then raised their hands to stop it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we must never give up!”
In March 2024 he wrote on Truth Social that he “does not intend to end the Affordable Care Act,” but wants to make it “better” and “cheaper.”
When asked about health care during the September 10 televised debate with Harris, he repeated his claim that “Obamacare was crappy health care.”
“It's not so good today. And what I said, if we figure something out and work on things, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it,” Trump said.
“I have concepts for a plan. I'm not president right now, but if we come up with something, I would only change it if we come up with something better and cheaper. And there are concepts and options that we have for that, and you'll be hearing about them in the not-too-distant future.”
Trump has taken credit for appointing the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.
However, since winning the Republican primary earlier this year, he has said he would not support a national ban on abortion and that individual states should have the freedom to restrict abortion as they see fit.
He called for exceptions to any ban, including for cases of rape and incest, or to protect the health of the mother. However, Trump said that in August he would vote against an amendment in Florida to protect abortion rights, which would eliminate a six-week abortion ban before many women know they are pregnant.
Trump has wavered on his stance on mifepristone, a drug used in medical abortions, and recently made headlines when abortion opponents unsuccessfully challenged the drug's approval by the FDA.
In an interview published in April 2024 by Time magazineTrump declined to comment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
“Well, I do have an opinion about that, but I'm not going to explain it. I'm not going to say yet. But I have a pretty strong opinion about that. And I'll probably release it in the next week,” he stated in the Time interview.
In the first presidential debate of 2024 with President Joe Biden in June, Trump stated that he would not restrict access to abortion drugs if elected.
However, Project 2025, the conservative administration blueprint written by former Trump officials and other close advisers in which he says he is not involved, is calling on the FDA to withdraw its approval of mifepristone.
In August, Trump said that if he wins a second term, he would make IVF treatment free for families.
These comments followed a wave of outrage and warnings from doctors who say that overturning the Roe v. Wade case and state restrictions on reproductive health care, as well as legislative efforts to define a fetus as a person, would endanger IVF because it uses embryos and common reproductive drugs.
“I am announcing today that under the Trump administration, your government will pay, or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs associated with IVF treatment,” he said at a campaign rally.
However, the former president has not detailed how he will finance it or how it will work.
Cut funding for schools that need vaccines
During the COVID-19 pandemic, in December 2021, Trump told former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly that he had received the booster shot.
In an interview with Candace Owens released two days later, Trump pushed back when Owens suggested the shots were not safe.
“Oh no, the vaccine works,” Trump interrupted Owens, who said she had not been vaccinated. “Those who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones who don't take the vaccine.”
While Trump has officially endorsed the COVID-19 vaccines and credited his administration with their rapid development, he has also been outspoken in his criticism of vaccines.
In March 2024, Trump promised it to cut funding for public schools that require vaccines for children if he is re-elected in 2024.
“I will not give a dime to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” Trump declared.
All 50 states require ite certain vaccinations for school attendance.
– with files from The Associated Press and Reuters
Katie Dangerfield
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