President Donald Trump’s First Actions as President: Rolling Back Healthcare Policies
President Donald Trump’s first actions in the Oval Office included reversing several healthcare policies put forth by former President Joe Biden. Shortly after being sworn in, Trump moved to revoke a number of executive orders issued by Biden, including those aimed at expanding access to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “ObamaCare”.
The revoked orders included a September 2021 executive order that doubled the window of time that uninsured Americans had to apply to participate in the federal insurance program, as well as an April 2021 order that directed the Department of Health and Human Services to analyze new policies aimed at reducing the burden of medical debt on working families and individuals.
The moves were criticized by the Democratic National Committee, which accused Trump of “ripping away affordable health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans and screwing over people with pre-existing conditions”. The committee also claimed that Trump’s actions would “raise costs and make Americans sicker”.
Trump’s moves were part of a broad effort to reverse dozens of Biden-era executive orders, which were aimed at strengthening the ACA and improving access to healthcare for Americans. The actions were seen by some as an attack on the federal healthcare program.
However, some health policy experts argued that the moves would have little impact on the cost of healthcare for Americans. “When administrations change over, many of them want to undo some of the actions of other presidents, even when those are more symbolic,” said Dr. Stacie Dusetzina, a professor at Vanderbilt University’s Department of Health Policy. “It could mean that the Trump administration is not interested in pursuing any of the work that has since developed out of these executive orders.”
