Volume 389, Number 10071
25 February 2017
WORLD REPORT Few details have emerged regarding a replacement for the US health law. Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent, speaks to stakeholders about the problems they foresee.
Less than 8 hours after Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 45th President of the USA, he signed an executive order reiterating a popular campaign promise: “It is the policy of my Administration to seek the prompt repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [ACA].”
Californians march against the repeal and replacement of the ACA, Feb 4, 2017 / Getty Images
Yet 5 weeks later, the Trump Administration and the Republican controlled Congress cannot agree on whether to repeal and replace it simultaneously—as the president desires—and what the replacement will be. Tom Price, Trump’s new Health and Human Services Secretary, assured senators during his nomination hearing last month that “nobody’s interested in pulling the rug out from under anybody. We believe that it’s absolutely imperative that individuals that have health coverage be able to keep health coverage…”
…The ACA’s uncertain future has rattled health insurers—initial 2018 policies are due as soon as April—and rippled through the health-care system to worried providers and patients. “Like everyone else, we are waiting for more information to be released by the Administration and Congress”, said Jan Emerson-Shea, a spokeswoman for the California Hospital Association, a state with more than 1·5 million patients enrolled in ACA insurance plans. [Continued here] …