The 2016 Presidential Election is less than a week away! Some of you may have already started going through early voting, which ends on Friday.
However, for those of you who haven’t voted just yet, here’s some information on where each candidate stands on health care so you can be informed when you go to the polls.
First, let’s talk about who is running in this year’s presidential election:
- Democratic Party
- Presidential Nominee: Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (New York)
- Vice Presidential Nominee: US Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia)
- Republican Party
- Presidential Nominee: Businessman Donald Trump (New York)
- Vice Presidential Nominee: Governor Mike Pence (Indiana)
- Libertarian Party
- Presidential Nominee: Former Governor Gary Johnson (New Mexico)
- Vice Presidential Nominee: Former Governor William Weld (Massachusetts)
Listed above are the individuals you have heard the most about in this campaign, but they aren’t the only candidates running in this year’s election. There are some more third-party candidates, as well, which we’ll mention toward the end of this post.
Below is a breakdown of where each candidate stands on health care:
Hillary Clinton
Presidential Nominee Democratic Party
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Supports the ACA. Opposes single-payer health insurance.
- She would protect Obamacare and build it up as needed.
- Would repeal the tax on generous coverage.
- Wants to expand Obamacare through the use of tax credits and reducing out-of-pocket costs so more people will sign up.
- Would like to expand the ACA to include uninsured families, no matter their immigration status.
Medicare & Medicaid
- Wants to allow Americans to enroll in Medicare at age 55.
- Believes Medicare-for-all is not economically feasible.
- Supports Obama’s proposal regarding states that sign up for Medicaid expansion receiving a 100% match for the first three years.
- Would like to expand Medicaid coverage.
Veteran’s Health Care
- Believes the VA has failed our veterans and needs to be reworked.
Disease Prevention and Cures
- Wants to pass funding to fight the spread of Zika virus.
- Believes we should spend $2 billion per year treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease so we can find a cure by the year 2025.
- Would like to put resources in Africa to help confine Ebola.
Mental Health
- Plans to integrate our mental and physical health care systems so that those with mental health needs can receive quality care.
Autism Health Care
- Would like to expand autism insurance and access to early screenings.
- Start Autism Work Initiative so more people with autism can find employment.
- Launch first adult autism prevalence study.
Health Care Plan
- Under her plan, patients could visit the doctor three times without counting toward their annual deductible.
- Families who are not eligible for Medicare could receive a $5,000 tax credit, or less, for their out-of-pocket health expenses.
- Wants to relieve rising out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and copayments.
- Thinks the consolidation of insurance providers takes the power away from consumers.
- Wants a government-run health care system that offers coverage for everyone.
Tim Kaine
Vice Presidential Nominee Democratic Party
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Agrees with the ACA and thinks it is a step in the right direction
- Wants to help meet families’ financial needs through tax credits on state and federal exchanges.
- Believes we should prevent premiums from rising.
Preventative Care
- Strong proponent of preventative care. Believes we can do more to lower healthcare costs through the promotion of preventative care.
Smoking and Drug Regulations
- Has introduced legislation in the past to prevent drug overdose and has banned smoking in restaurants and bars in his state.
Donald Trump
Presidential Nominee Republican Party
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Wants to repeal Obamacare and put into place a seven-part plan that is based on free market principles.
- Replace Obamacare with Health Savings Accounts, as mentioned in his plan below.
- Doesn’t believe there should be a government mandate for people to sign up, or penalties for not signing up.
Medicare & Medicaid
- Promised not to get rid of Medicare.
- Believes we need to grow our economy so we can keep Medicare benefits.
- Wants to establish “block-grant” funding for the states for Medicaid. Medicaid money would be given to the states to determine how to spend it based on their residents’ needs. This would lessen the federal government’s involvement and give more power back to the states.
Veteran’s Health Care
- Believes we should let veterans see private doctors or the VA.
Disease Prevention and Cures
- Wants to stock up on treatments so we’re ready for future pandemics.
Mental Health
- Wants to reform our mental health programs.
- Need more resources available to help families.
Autism Health Care
- Believes giving vaccines in smaller quantities could reduce risk of autism.
Health Care Plan
- His plan includes:
- Repealing Obamacare
- Break health insurance company monopolies through the interstate sale of health insurance. Would require that the insurance companies’ plans comply with state regulations.
- Establish a full tax deduction for individual insurance premium payments
- Make Health Savings Accounts inheritable
- Require price transparency from doctors regarding appointment and treatment costs
- Block-grant Medicaid to the states
- Allow more overseas drug providers, as long as they meet our safety requirements
- Believes enforcing our immigration laws could decrease health care costs.
- Wants to take care of everybody when it comes to health care.
- Proposes a health plan that returns authority to the states and operates under free market principles.
- Wants to keep pre-existing condition coverage.
- Would like to reduce deductibles. They are too high.
Mike Pence
Vice Presidential Nominee Republican Party
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Thinks we need to repeal Obamacare.
- Doesn’t believe it works. Believes something like the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), which was established as an alternative to the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid, would work better.
- Need to replace Obamacare with a plan that includes consumer-driven health care.
Medicare & Medicaid
- Believes Medicaid is broken and something like the Healthy Indiana Plan could work in its place.
- Says where Medicare is going right now will lead to bankruptcy in 2024. He wants to save Medicare, not just watch it go bankrupt. To do this, Pence proposes we work on strengthening the program to make it work for people now and for future beneficiaries. This would entail letting beneficiaries make choices.
- Does not agree that hospitals should be able to refuse treatment to Medicaid patients if they are not able to pay their copay if the hospital decides the visit is not an emergency.
Mental Health
- Believes in finding a solution for mental health coverage, but did not agree with the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 or the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008.
- Pence argues that the bills’ focus are too broad. Pence thinks we should focus on serious biologically-based mental disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. These bills include everything, even jet lag and caffeine addiction, which would increase health insurance altogether and may lead to the termination of mental health benefits by some employers.
Gary Johnson
Presidential Nominee Libertarian Party
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Doesn’t believe the government should run our health care.
- Would repeal Obamacare.
Medicare & Medicaid
- Wants to cut Medicare and Medicaid by 43% and block-grant these programs to the states.
- Give the states the power to decide how to give healthcare to the poor.
Veteran’s Health Care
- Has promised to give health care choices to our veterans.
- Wants to correct VA facilities and its bureaucracy so it can provide veterans with the care they need.
Health Care System Proposal
- A working marketplace that will provide Americans with the health care they want and need, with the flexibility to innovate and compete.
William (Bill) Weld
Vice Presidential Nominee Libertarian Party
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Doesn’t believe the government should run our health care.
- Would repeal Obamacare.
Medicare & Medicaid
- Wants to cut Medicare and Medicaid by 43% and block-grant these programs to the states.
- Give the states the power to decide how to give healthcare to the poor.
Health Care System Proposal
- Likes health savings accounts and more competition
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Gary Johnson are on the ballot in all 50 states.
You might also see Jill Stein (on the ballot in 45 states) and Evan McMullin (on the ballot in 34 states), along with several other third-party candidates, depending on the state you live in.
For a full list of who will be on your state’s ballot, visit ballotpedia.org. On BallotPedia’s Presidential Election 2016 post, scroll down to the section: “Presidential election by state.” You should see an interactive map like this one:
On BallotPedia’s site, you can click on your state and see which candidates will be on your ballot so you are prepared to make a choice come election day. BallotPedia has some additional information about each candidate so you can research where they stand on the issues.
Sources
All Candidates
https://ballotpedia.org/2016_presidential_candidates_on_healthcare
All Candidates
https://www.ontheissues.org/Health_Care.htm
Trump and Clinton
Trump and Clinton
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/trump-vs.-clinton-on-health-care.aspx
Mike Pence
https://www.ontheissues.org/Governor/Mike_Pence_Health_Care.htm
Gary Johnson
https://www.ontheissues.org/2012/Gary_Johnson_Health_Care.htm
Bill Weld
https://www.ontheissues.org/Bill_Weld.htm
Tim Kaine
https://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Tim_Kaine.htm
