As President Biden and Vice President Harris continue to deliver historic progress in reducing costs and expanding access to health care, Trump is threatening to terminate the Affordable Care Act and put the health care coverage of 4.3 million Latinos at risk.  For Latino communities who already face health care disparities, this isn’t just about politics — it’s about our livelihoods. 

DNC Director of Hispanic Media Marco Frieri released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump has proven time after time just how out of touch he is with the American people as he continues to attack the lifeline that the ACA, Medicare, and Medicaid have proven to be for our nation. For Latinos who have historically faced disparities in access to care, the ACA is transformative – more Latinos gained access to quality and affordable care under the ACA than any other community. President Biden and Vice President Harris have made strengthening and protecting health care a key part of their agenda, but if Donald Trump gets his way, he would ‘kill’ the ACA, and the uninsured rate would skyrocket. Latino voters know that this November, the only candidate who will fight for our health care is Joe Biden.”

President Biden is expanding and protecting the life-changing Affordable Care Act, which led to more than 15 million Latinos gaining health insurance. 

CBS News: “Data shows that prior to the 2013 implementation of the Medicaid expansion — a provision of the ACA that made more families eligible for Medicaid coverage — 40.2% of the Hispanic population, 24.4% of the Black population, and 14.5% of the White population were uninsured in America. However, by 2021, those numbers dropped significantly to 24.5%, 13.5%, and 8.2%, respectively.”

NBC News: “Hispanics have the highest rate of people without health insurance coverage and saw the largest drop in people without insurance under Obamacare.”

KFF: “Since implementation of the major ACA health coverage expansions in 2014, people of color have experienced large coverage gains that helped narrow the longstanding racial and ethnic disparities in coverage. These gains reflected increases in both Medicaid and private coverage. Hispanics experienced the largest coverage gain.”

CNN: “Obamacare sign-ups hit record 21.3 million as Biden pushes his efforts to lower health care costs”

“Nearly 5 million more people signed up for Obamacare policies for this year compared with last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, said Wednesday. Notably, about a quarter of people selecting plans were new consumers.”

The Hill: “Biden touts Affordable Care Act enrollment spike” 

“The White House is reporting strong enrollment numbers through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) one week after enrollment began, with 300,000 new customers signing up for plans already.”

Washington Post: “ACA linked to reduced racial disparities, earlier diagnosis and treatment in cancer care”

President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act requires pharmaceutical companies to rebate Medicare for price hikes that exceed inflation, caps seniors’ out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 per month, and makes adult vaccines available to Medicare enrollees at no cost.

CNN: “More Americans can now get insulin for $35” 

“Congress, the White House and new players in the market have increased pressure on insulin manufacturers to lower their prices. Eli Lilly and Sanofi announced that they would institute $35 caps shortly after President Joe Biden called on drugmakers to do so in his State of the Union address last year.”

NBC News: “Major drug companies including Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb have committed to participate in Medicare drug price negotiations with the federal government, the Biden administration said Tuesday. … The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services named the first 10 prescription drugs subject to price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act a little over a month ago.”

Axios: “The Biden administration is set to announce the first batch of prescription drugs that will be subject to new price negotiations with Medicare, kicking off formal discussions with drugmakers who are fiercely challenging the effort.”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “The Inflation Reduction Act requires drug manufacturers to pay a rebate to the federal government if prices for single-source drugs and biologicals covered under Medicare Part B and nearly all covered drugs under Part D increase faster than the rate of inflation (CPI-U).”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “The Inflation Reduction Act limits monthly cost sharing for insulin products to no more than $35 for Medicare beneficiaries.”

CNN: “Medicare enrollees can now get additional vaccines at no cost, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Before this year, vaccines for Covid-19, the flu, pneumonia and hepatitis B, for higher risk patients, were covered by Medicare Part B with no cost sharing. Now, all adult vaccines covered by Medicare Part D that are recommended by a federal advisory committee on immunization are available to enrollees at no cost.” 

Health.com: “[The Inflation Reduction Act] caps Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket spending under the Medicare Part D benefit, first by eliminating coinsurance above the catastrophic threshold in 2024 and then by adding a $2,000 cap on spending in 2025.” 

Meanwhile, Donald Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, even though it would be devastating for millions of Latino families.

Trump: “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives. We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”

Trump: “Obamacare is a disaster. And I said, ‘We’re gonna do something about it.’”

Daily Beast: “Trump Revives Plan to Dismantle Obamacare if Elected in 2024”

Mediaite: “‘OBAMACARE SUCKS!!!’ Trump Rants About New Plan — Years After He Promised It Was ‘Two Weeks’ Away”

New York Times: “Trump Administration Files Formal Request to Strike Down All of Obamacare” 

CNN: “Obamacare has gotten popular. Trump doesn’t care”

New York Magazine: “Why a Second Trump Presidency Might Try Again to Repeal Obamacare”

And Trump and his extreme MAGA minions also want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, ripping away its lifesaving provisions such as capping seniors’ out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 per month – a provision that’s critical for Latinos who suffer from diabetes at a disproportionate rate. 

Axios: “Failure to include a monthly $35 insulin cap in the climate and health care bill that passed the Senate last weekend could especially affect Latinos.

The big picture: CDC data shows Latinos are 70% more likely than their white non-Hispanic peers to be diagnosed with diabetes.”

Axios: “RSC budget revives conservative health priorities”

“The Republican Study Committee today laid out a budget proposal that suggests a health policy blueprint if the GOP controls the White House and at least one chamber of Congress next year.

“The health care section… calls for killing the Inflation Reduction Act and its drug price provisions. … It would remove many of the Affordable Care Act’s protections for pre-existing conditions.”

The Hill: “The [Inflation Reduction Act] has been in Republicans’ crosshairs ever since it passed. If they win the White House and both chambers of Congress in the upcoming election, they’re likely to aim for at least a partial repeal.”

President Biden is strengthening  Medicare and Medicaid, while Donald Trump is trying to gut these programs and Republican governors continue to refuse to expand Medicaid in their states — keeping anywhere between tens of thousands to over a million of their constituents from accessing affordable health care. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: “Biden-Harris Administration Takes Historic Action to Increase Access to Quality Care, and Support to Families and Care Workers”

White House Fact Sheet: “The President’s Budget extends the life of the Medicare HI trust fund indefinitely, the Medicare Office of the Chief Actuary estimates. It achieves these gains without any benefit cuts—while, in fact, lowering costs for Medicare beneficiaries”

New York Times: “U.S. Labor Market Strength Steadied Social Security and Medicare Funds”

“The financial health of Social Security and Medicare, two of the nation’s most crucial safety net programs, has improved this year as a stronger-than-expected U.S. economy attracted more workers to the labor market, buttressing funding for the critical programs.“

Forbes: “Trump Floats ‘Cutting’ Spending On Entitlements Like Social Security And Medicare”

Rolling Stone: “Trump Floats Cuts to Social Security and Medicare”

New York Times: “Texas has one of the highest rates in the nation for people undergoing diabetes-related amputations, at about 52 per 100,000 hospital admissions. The problem in San Antonio is even worse than in the rest of Texas, especially for men, who are roughly three times more likely to lose a foot or leg to diabetes than women — possibly because of cultural stigmas that prevent many Latino men from looking closely after their health.”

“Republicans in Texas have consistently opposed expanding Medicaid for low-income residents under the Affordable Health Care Act of 2013”

PBS: “According to the Georgetown analysis, the rate of Latino children without health insurance in states that had not expanded Medicaid by 2019 was more than 2.5 times higher than that in states that had expanded—14.9% compared with 5.8%.”

KFF: In Florida, 570,000 uninsured nonelderly adults would become eligible for Medicaid if expanded.

KFF: And 29% of the uninsured Floridians who would be covered if Florida expanded Medicaid are Hispanic. 

KFF: In Georgia, 359,000 uninsured nonelderly adults would become eligible for Medicaid if expanded.

KFF: In South Carolina, 141,000 uninsured nonelderly adults would become eligible for Medicaid if expanded.

KFF: In Texas, 1,214,000 uninsured nonelderly adults would become eligible for Medicaid if expanded.

Thanks to the ACA, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, and 6.1 million Latinos gained access to preventative care services without added out-of-pocket costs.

Dept. of Health and Human Services: “The law requires insurers to cover HIV screening without cost-sharing for individuals at high risk of infection. This is important for Hispanics/Latinos, who represent 20 percent of the total estimated number of HIV diagnoses among adults and adolescents. An estimated 6.1 million Latino Americans with private insurance currently have access to expanded preventive services with no cost-sharing because of the Affordable Care Act.”

Kaiser Health News: “Following the ACA’s enactment in 2010 through 2016, coverage increased across all racial/ethnic groups, with the largest increases occurring after implementation of the Medicaid and Marketplace coverage expansions in 2014. Nonelderly Hispanic people had the largest percentage point increase in coverage, with their uninsured rate falling from 32.6% to 19.1%.”

Dept. of Health and Human Services: “Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies can’t refuse to cover you or charge you more just because you have a ‘pre-existing condition’ — that is, a health problem you had before the date that new health coverage starts. They also can’t charge women more than men.”