We are less than six months away from the presidential elections, and its crucial that Black women’s voices are heard. For the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a quick look at some of the most important issues on the ballot this season to make sure that you understand each candidate’s stand on the issues. This week, it’s all about healthcare.
A Quick Guide to the Presidential Candidates’ Stand on: The Economy
Hillary Clinton
Clinton’s number one promise when it comes to healthcare is that she will uphold President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which has provided health insurance to millions of previously uninsured Americans. In fact, she wants to take it one step further and decrease out-of-pocket costs while for those who sign up for Obamacare while easing the enrollment process.
In addition to defending the Affordable Care Act, she has said that she wants to expand healthcare to all immigrants—regardless of status—as well we rural Americans. Clinton vows to lower all costs on things such as deductibles, copays and prescriptions drugs, and she has promised to uphold women’s reproductive rights.
Read more here.
A Quick Guide to the Presidential Candidates’ Stand on National Security
Donald Trump
Unsurprisingly, Trump sings a drastically different tune from Clinton. Arguing that the Affordable Care Act has placed an unreasonable economic burden on Americans, Trump says that he would begin repealing Obamacare on day one of his presidency.
However, he promises to implement a plan that would expand healthcare access while lowering costs for citizens. He would disband restrictions on cross-state insurance sales, require medical providers to be more transparent with their costs, introduce state-run Medicaid and soften barriers that keep Americans from having access to “imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas.”
Additionally, he says that enforcing immigrants laws could annually save the U.S. $11 billion due to the amount of money spent to insure those individuals.
Read more here.
A Quick Guide to the Presidential Candidates’ Stand on: Gun Control
Bernie Sanders
Sanders has been vocal about introducing a system that would provide universal healthcare to all Americans. He has voiced his support for the Affordable Care Act, but wants to provide coverage to all Americans, which means no more copays, deductibles and the like. By doing so, he said that the United States would save money because the country as a whole would be healthier.
Sanders has proposed various plans to pay for his proposal, which would include healthcare premiums paid by employers, slight income tax raises and limiting tax deductions for the wealthy.
Read more here.