Trump blasts spikes in ACA
GOP nominee ends big-money fundraising events
SANFORD, Fla. — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday argued that spikes in health insurance premiums for Affordable Care Act plans provided an urgent rationale for his election on a day that also brought fresh signs of a flagging campaign.
Trump’s finance chairman said the GOP nominee has no further highdollar fundraising events planned for the remainder of the campaign, dealing another serious blow to the GOP’s effort to finance its get-out-the-vote operation before Election Day.
Trump also announced that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential candidate, will pay a visit Wednesday to Utah, where polls show Trump is at risk of losing the once-reliable GOP state.
Both Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton campaigned in Florida on Tuesday, underscoring its importance on Nov. 8, particularly for Trump, who acknowledged that he probably can’t win the White House without carrying the state.
At both a late afternoon rally here and during an earlier appearance, Trump claimed that the Affordable Care Act was “blowing up” and vowed he would introduce legislation on his first day in office to replace it.
“Repealing Obamacare and stopping Hillary’s health care takeover is one of the single most important reasons that we must win on Nov. 8,” Trump declared.
Trump spoke about the insurance premiums a day after President Barack Obama’s administration announced that insurers are raising the 2017 premiums for a popular and significant group of health plans sold through HealthCare.gov by an average of 25 percent.
Trump vowed to replace the program “with something much less expensive, otherwise this country is in much worse shape than anybody thought.” But he provided no specifics on how he would do that.
Trump’s decision to halt high-dollar fundraising was the latest twist in a campaign that has been filled with surprises.
Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s national finance chairman, said in an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday that Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee between the party and the campaign, held its last formal fundraiser on Oct. 19. The luncheon was in Las Vegas on the day of the final presidential debate.
“We’ve kind of wound down,” Mnuchin said, referring to formal fundraisers. “But the online fundraising continues to be strong.”
While Clinton is headlining her last fundraiser Tuesday night in Miami, her campaign has scheduled 41 other events between now and Nov. 3 featuring high-profile surrogates such as her daughter, Chelsea, running mate Tim Kaine and the entertainer Cher, according to a schedule sent to donors this weekend.
Trump’s campaign is continuing to bring in donations that will boost the party, but the lack of a formal fundraising schedule effectively turns off one of the main spigots to the Republican National Committee.
Plan to improve ACA
During a radio interview Tuesday, Clinton touted the Affordable Care Act as “a major step” forward and vowed, as she has before, to “fix problems” with the law.
“I’m sure you noticed, predominantly working people, African-American, Latino people now have access to insurance, but the costs have gone up too much,” Clinton told WHQT-FM in Miami. “So we’re going to really tackle that. We’re going to get copays and premiums and deductibles down. We’re going to tackle prescription drug costs. And we can do that without ripping away the insurance that people now have.”
The sharp increase in premiums, more than triple the percentage hike of this year’s plans, reflects the struggles of many insurers because their Affordable Care Act customers have tended to be sicker than expected. Some companies have responded by dropping out of the insurance exchanges created under the law, leaving consumers with dwindling health plan options next year in many parts of the country.
On first of a two-day swing through Florida, Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd in Coconut Creek that she is optimistic about the election but warned her supporters about becoming complacent.
As she has in recent days in other states, Clinton urged the audience to take advantage of early voting opportunities. She noted that her staff was available to escort people to a nearby location.
“You can go across the street right now,” Clinton said.
Clinton also took several jabs at Trump, including mocking his proposed “deportation force” to remove undocumented immigrants from the country.
Speaking in a state with a sizable Latino population, Clinton called the idea “so unimaginable.”
“I think it is so wrong, and it is not going to happen in America,” she said.
Golf course employees
Earlier in the day, Trump sought to use his South Florida golf course and its morning-shift employees to focus attention on the Affordable Care Act premium increases.
As the first employee at the Trump National Doral Miami resort approached the microphone, Trump said, “He’d better say good (things) or you’re fired — I’m kidding.”
Motioning to his employees,
Trump said, “You look at what they’re going through, what they’re going through with their health care is horrible.”
The Affordable Care Act is designed to provide health care coverage for people not insured by their employer — so Trump’s statement seemed to suggest that he doesn’t offer health care insurance.
But Trump told Fox News later, “We don’t even use Obamacare. We don’t want it.”
Trump Doral general manager David Feder told reporters that “over 95 percent” of the resort’s employees receive health care coverage through the company and that “very, very few” of them rely on plans offered through the federal health care law.
Trump also reminded reporters that he is scheduled to leave the campaign trail on Wednesday to attend the official grand opening of his new Trump-branded hotel on Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue.
“I always said I’m getting to Pennsylvania Avenue one way or another,” he quipped — as employees behind him laughed.