Healthcare kicked off a lively debate Sept. 30 between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Affordable Care Act and healthcare were one of the first topics the duo debated, The Hill reports.
President Trump supports a lawsuit to overturn the ACA, the latest of several Republican-led pursuits to revoke the bill. President Trump didn't offer details on what his plan was to replace the ACA, and fought with moderator Chris Wallace when pressed on the issue.
Mr. Wallace said, "You have never in these four years come up with a plan."
President Trump replied that he got rid of that individual mandate and then Mr. Wallace replied, "That is not a comprehensive plan."
President Trump did not release a plan to replace the ACA during his four years in office, but did support a GOP bill in 2017 that would've weakened protections around preexisting conditions. If the ACA was eliminated, 54 million to 130 million people with preexisting conditions could lose healthcare if they could not purchase insurance from an employer and were denied on the individual market, The Hill reports.
President Trump later touted that an executive order he signed that afforded protections to people with preexisting conditions. According to Politifact, that executive order wouldn't have as much power as the ACA and a congressional bill would be needed to maintain preexisting condition protection.
President Trump also pointed to his executive actions around lowering drug prices. President Trump created a plan to lower Medicare drug prices by acquiring drugs at a cheaper price, but the plan never went into effect. He also signed an executive order to lower insulin prices. Politifact said the president's order targeted a select group of providers that represent fewer than 2 percent of the insulin supply and between 2017 and 2018, insulin prices for seniors rose.
President Trump then said Mr. Biden supported Medicare-for-all, although he does not.Mr. Biden said he supports the establishment of a government-run public option. Mr. Biden did sponsor a bill with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that called for the creation of a government-run public option.