Is Trump's renewed attack on the Affordable Care Act a blessing in disguise for Democrats?
By setting his sights on "Obamacare" this weekend, the Republican presidential front-runner may have accidentally given Biden an early holiday present


It's been more than a decade since then-President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, his signature legislative accomplishment, into law. Since then, Republicans in the House and Senate have spent years trying to repeal some, if not all, of the massive health care infrastructure that provided medical insurance coverage to more than 40 million Americans in 2023 alone, according to an estimate from the Department of Health and Human Services. After wielding their repeal efforts as a perennial campaign cudgel for the better part of the 2010s, the 2022 midterms elections were "the first [time] in more than a decade" Republicans didn't make erasing the ACA a tentpole issue, NBC News reported, citing the "diminished appetite" for that particular fight from a GOP resigned to the fact that Obamacare seems here to stay.
As the 2024 general elections ramp up in earnest however, the relative lull of 2022's ACA detente appears at risk of being labeled a fluke, as GOP front-runner former President Donald Trump insists on making his predecessor's battle-tested legislation a campaign issue once again. Calling it "not good Healthcare," in a post on his Truth Social network this weekend, Trump claimed to be "seriously looking at alternatives" while urging fellow Republicans to "never give up!" on efforts to repeal the law.
By all indications, Democrats are thrilled. With KFF Polling showing the ACA's popularity at an all-time high this year, President Joe Biden and his allies have welcomed what they see as an easily winnable fight of the Republican front-runner's own making.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So is Trump's latest broadside against Obamacare the gift Democrats think it is?
What the commentators said
Donald Trump can "can say whatever he wants," Delaware Sen. Tom Carper (D) told the conservative Washington Examiner, adding the ACA "ain't going away," and that raising the issue in the 2024 elections might "work out in ways that he will not like."
Trump is "inviting a political fight he's very likely to lose," agreed MSNBC's Steve Benen. The 2017 Republican push to repeal the legislation was a "disaster for the party, which Democrats exploited" when they retook the House majority the following year. Zeroing in on Trump's claim to be exploring ACA alternatives, Benen called the line "laughable," noting that the former president had repeatedly made similar promises "that always went unmet."
Acknowledging both the unfulfilled repetition of Trump's promises, as well as the potential risk they nevertheless represent, Biden himself weighed in on his likely general election opponent's comments at a White House event on Monday, exclaiming "they just don't give up."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
"And my predecessor has once again, God love him, called for cuts that could rip away health insurance for tens of millions of Americans, and Medicaid. They just don't give up." —President Biden on Donald Trump's call to repeal the Affordable Care Act pic.twitter.com/8J5qiBHyM9November 27, 2023
Behind the scenes, the Biden camp has moved even more aggressively to capitalize on what they see as an opening for the president, happily "ced[ing] its programming decisions to Mr. Trump." The New York Times reported, saying the campaign had "altered its previous plans" to focus on "amplifying" Trump's attack on the ACA. Trump is "making this easy for us," Biden campaign Communications Director Michael Tyler told the paper, which claimed that Trump's lurch into attacking the ACA "surprised even his own aides."
Writing in The Washington Post that "Obamacare has changed a lot since it was first enacted, partly because of Trump," self-admitted ACA skeptic Ramesh Ponnuru, an editor at the conservative National Review, nevertheless concluded that "considering Obamacare in isolation from the rest of the health-care system makes no sense" and will make even less should Trump follow through on his pledge.
What next?
Biden's "expedited plans" to highlight Trump's health care comments have already begun, The Washington Post reported, predicting the president's campaign will "run new TV ads this week in swing states" both highlighting the administration's work lowering prescription drug costs, and Trump's remarks. The campaign is also "digging through the archives to resurface Trump's attempts over the years to terminate the law."
Meanwhile, though Trump's much-promised Obamacare alternative has yet to materialize from the former president's campaign itself, "conservative policy groups staffed by Trump alumni" have already begun working on health care proposals should a Republican win the White House next year, Axios reported.
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
England’s ‘dysfunctional’ children’s care system
In the Spotlight A new report reveals that protection of youngsters in care in England is failing in a profit-chasing sector
-
Cider farms to visit this autumn
The Week Recommends With harvest season fast approaching, spend an afternoon at one of these idyllic orchards
-
Endangered shark meat is being mislabeled and sold in the US
Under the radar It could cause both health and ecological problems
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for coup attempt
Speed Read Bolsonaro was convicted of attempting to stay in power following his 2022 election loss
-
Calls for both calm and consequences follow Kirk killing
TALKING POINTS The suspected assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has some public figures pleading for restraint, while others agitate for violent reprisals
-
Why does Donald Trump keep showing up at major sporting events?
Today's Big Question Trump has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and other events
-
‘Democracy is under threat globally’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Former top FBI agents sue, claiming Trump purge
Speed Read The agents alleged they were targeted by a “campaign of retribution”
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?
Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
Judge lets Cook stay at Fed while appealing ouster
Speed Read Trump had attempted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud