California healthcare remains pressing issue in election year

Accessible and affordable healthcare in California may hang in the balance depending on who is elected president. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Haris stand worlds apart on the issue with the former vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and the latter promising to maintain and strengthen it.
So far, neither candidate has put forth a comprehensive healthcare agenda. The cost of healthcare is a top concern for Californians and voters nationwide. Millions of people are saddled with medical debt and tend to take less medication than prescribed because of the skyrocketing costs. Let’s take a brief look at how each candidate will address the issue once he or she is sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2025:
At the Sept. 10 debate, Trump said he preferred during his presidency to let Obamacare “wither on the vine” or let it die before crafting a plan of his own. Now less than 40 days out from Election Day, Trump wants to improve Obamacare and make it “less expensive.” He hasn’t offered any details as to what that would entail, but experts say any changes would likely come from chipping away at certain provisions of the law.
During her 2019 presidential campaign, Harris promoted a version of Medicare for All, a government-run single-payer system. Today, health policy experts expect Harris to continue the Biden administration’s efforts to promote and build on Obamacare rather than move the country toward a new system.
Some California lawmakers are interested in exploring a single-payer-like system, specifically Gov. Gavin Newson who last year signed a law that directs the state to map out the next steps in creating a “unified financing” system that would cover all Californians. When Harris was California attorney general, she went after large healthcare companies by moving to restrict mergers and investigate anti-competitive behaviors that research shows can drive up healthcare costs.
Trump during his time in the White House reined in healthcare costs in the form of price transparency rules. He signed an executive order that led to requirements for hospitals to disclose prices for common services on their websites. In 2020, Trump signed the No Surprise Act, a law designed to protect consumers against surprise medical bills when receiving care from out-of-network providers.
However, Trump gave the greenlight to some healthcare mergers, but did so with conditions signaling some caution in approving such deals. One example was CVS Health’s $69 billion acquisition of insurance giant Aetna in 2017. As a condition of the merger, Trump’s Department of Justice required that Aetna sell part of its Medicare drug business to another company as a way to preserve competition.
No other issue has received as much attention during this election cycle than abortion and reproductive rights. Harris has leaned heavily into the issue and has been, generally, the voice and face for reproductive health as vice president. Harris launched a nationwide tour this year to promote reproductive rights with events across the country. In March, Harris visited a Planned Parenthood center, the first-ever such visit by a sitting vice president or president.
Trump has given inconsistent messages about abortion rights. Earlier this year, he made headlines for suggesting that, if he were re-elected, he would support a national ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy. He has since changed his tune in referring the issue back to the states. Trump has indicated he would not ban mail delivery of abortion pills, saying that he wants insurance to cover the cost of in vitro fertilization.