Trump is trying to trigger a health-care death spiral. Yes, intentionally.

This is how far he's willing to go to destroy ObamaCare

President Trump.
(Image credit: Olivier Douliery/Getty Images)

Remember 2013? When many of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect that year, Republicans became apoplectic about the horrific injustices that Americans who got their insurance on the individual market were being subjected to. With insurance plans now required to cover "essential health benefits" — things like hospitalization, emergency care, and prescription medications — thousands of people got letters from their insurers telling them that their old plans were being canceled, and inviting them to choose a new plan, which might cost more.

Tears in their eyes, Republicans streamed to the cameras to offer lamentations to the fate of these ObamaCare victims. The news media helped out by offering uncritical coverage, not bothering to ask whether the junk insurance these folks had before actually covered anything, or even whether they might pay less for better coverage due to subsidies under the new system. But the die was cast, and from that point the individual insurance market — where only 7 percent of Americans get their coverage — would be the primary focus of any discussion of the ACA.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.