2016 presidential candidates on healthcare

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2016 Presidential Election
Date: November 8, 2016

Candidates
Winner: Donald Trump (R)
Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates

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For information about healthcare under the Trump administration, click here.

The overview of the issue below was current as of the 2016 election.
A Gallup poll conducted in late August 2016 found that 44 percent of Americans supported Obamacare, and 51 percent disapproved of it. The number of uninsured Americans dropped after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, became law on March 23, 2010. In 2016, 11 percent of Americans remained uninsured compared to 16 percent in 2010. Despite this success, health insurers were concerned about Obamacare's financial sustainability and fewer participants were reporting that the law had helped their family. After six years, more than half of Americans said Obamacare had no effect on them or their family.[1]

On October 24, 2016, a government report was released that found that premiums were expected to rise 22 percent in 2017 under Obamacare. Federal subsidies would offset some of the cost.[2] As a result, healthcare became a frequently discussed issue in the final two weeks of the election.

See what the 2016 candidates and their respective party platforms said about healthcare below.

Interested in reading more about the 2016 candidates' stances on issues related to healthcare?
Ballotpedia also covered what the candidates said about Medicare and Medicaid, abortion, vaccination, and the Zika virus.

OVERVIEW OF CANDIDATE POSITIONS
  • Hillary Clinton supported allowing Americans to enroll in Medicare when they turn 55, increasing funding for autism and Alzheimer's disease research and treatment, and legalizing prescription drug imports from Canada.
  • Donald Trump supported repealing Obamacare, reforming healthcare based on "free market principles," and easing regulations on overseas drug providers.
  • Jill Stein supported a "Medicare For All" single-payer public health insurance program and said she believes healthcare should be a human right.
  • Gary Johnson opposed government-mandated health insurance.
  • Democratic ticket

    Democratic Party Hillary Clinton

    caption
    • In response to reports that insurance premiums would rise an average of 22 percent in 2017 under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Clinton campaign spokesperson Julie Wood released a statement offering Clinton's continued support for the healthcare program on October 25, 2016. "There's a clear choice in this election: either we're going to help American families and tackle health care cost issues, or we're going to throw 20 million people off their coverage and let the insurance companies write the rules again. Hillary Clinton wants to build on the progress we've made and fix what's broken, while Donald Trump would rip up the ACA, reverse the progress we have made and start this fight all over again," she said.[3]
    • Clinton announced a mental health plan on her campaign website on August 29, 2016. A statement from Clinton’s campaign read, “Recognizing that nearly a fifth of all adults in the United States — more than 40 million people — are coping with a mental health problem, Hillary’s plan will integrate our mental and physical health care systems. Her goal is that within her time in office, Americans will no longer separate mental health from physical health when it comes to access to care or quality of treatment. Hillary has been talking about mental health policy throughout her campaign, since hearing directly from American parents, students, veterans, nurses, and police officers about how these challenges keep them up at night.”[4]
    • In a statement on August 24, 2016, Clinton called on the pharmaceutical company Mylan, which makes EpiPens, to reduce their product’s cost after reports surfaced that the price of EpiPens had increased by 400 percent in recent years. “That's outrageous — and it's just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers. I believe that our pharmaceutical and biotech industries can be an incredible source of American innovation, giving us revolutionary treatments for debilitating diseases. But it's wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them,” said Clinton.[5]
    • At the Borinquen Medical Center in Miami, Florida, on August 9, 2016, Clinton called on members of Congress to return from recess and to pass funding to fight the spread of the Zika virus. Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced shortly before Clinton’s remarks that the 21st case of “locally transmitted Zika” had been confirmed in South Florida. Clinton said, “I am very disappointed that the Congress went on recess before actually agreeing on what they would do to put the resources into this fight, and I really am hoping that they will pay attention. In fact, I would very much urge the leadership of Congress to call people back for a special session and get a bill passed.”[6]
    • Clinton announced in a statement on July 9, 2016, a few changes to her healthcare platform, including offering a public-option insurance plan and allowing Americans to enroll in Medicare when they turn 55. According to the statement, Clinton affirmed “her commitment to give Americans in every state the choice of a public-option insurance plan, something she has supported during this campaign and going back to her 2008 presidential campaign.”[7]
    • Read more of Hillary Clinton's public statements on healthcare.

    Democratic Party Tim Kaine

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    • Kaine was a strong proponent of prevention. On his Senate website in 2016, he wrote, "We must do more to lower costs while improving the quality of care through promoting preventive care, effectively using technology, paying our health care providers by patient outcomes and finding ways to reduce defensive medicine and lower malpractice premiums without taking rights away from injured people."[10]
      • Kaine also praised the Affordable Care Act as a step in the right direction toward improving the healthcare system. "In addition to extending Medicare’s solvency," his website read, "the Affordable Care Act expands health insurance coverage to the uninsured, uses refundable tax credits to help working families afford quality health care and reins in the worst insurance company abuses."[10]
      • In the Senate, Kaine co-sponsored legislation aimed at giving health insurance consumers more options to meet their financial needs, helping families secure tax credits on state and federal healthcare exchanges, and preventing premiums from rising for millions.[10]
    • On November 5, 2015, Kaine introduced legislation to help prevent opioid overdose deaths by encouraging doctors to prescribe naloxone, a drug that quickly reverses opioid and heroin overdoses, whenever they prescribe opioids for pain or treat patients with opioid use disorders. Introducing the bill in a speech on the Senate floor, Kaine said, "There’s a lot of issues that we have to solve. But there is this bit of good news — that naloxone saves lives, and it’s easy to administer, it doesn’t have a negative side effect, and if we can broaden access to naloxone for those who have been prescribed opioids, we’ve saved lives in the past and we’re going to save a lot more.”[11]
    • While governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine signed a law in 2009 that banned smoking in restaurants and bars. This made Virginia the first southern state to enact a smoking ban. Tobacco has long been a part of Virginia's history and cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA is based in Richmond, Va.[12][13]

    Republican ticket

    Republican Party Donald Trump

    caption
    • In a speech in Pennsylvania on November 1, 2016, Trump said he would call for a special session of Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act if elected president. “When we win on November 8th and elect a Republican Congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare. Have to do it. I will ask Congress to convene a special session so we can repeal and replace. And it will be such an honor for me, for you, and for everybody in this country because Obamacare has to be replaced. And we will do it and we will do it very, very quickly. It is a catastrophe,” said Trump.[14]
    • In an interview on September 15, 2016, Trump said that birth control “should not be done by prescription.” He said, “I think what we have in birth control is, you know, when you have to get a prescription, that’s a pretty tough something to climb. And I would say it should not be a prescription, it should not be done by prescription. … you have women that just aren’t able to go get a prescription. So and more and more people are coming out and saying that, but I am not in favor of prescription for birth control.”[15]
    • On March 2, 2016, Trump released a seven-point plan for healthcare reform, which he described as based on "free market principles." He stated that he would repeal Obamacare, reduce barriers to the interstate sale of health insurance, institute a full tax deduction for insurance premium payments for individuals, make Health Saving Accounts inheritable, require price transparency, block-grant Medicaid to the states, and allow for more overseas drug providers through lowered regulatory barriers. Trump added that enforcing immigration laws could reduce healthcare costs.[16]
    • At the eighth Republican presidential primary debate on February 6, 2016, Donald Trump discussed his position on healthcare, and whether it is closer to Hillary Clinton’s or Bernie Sanders’: "I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. ... We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree, you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country."[17]
    • Trump suggested that he supported universal healthcare on September 27, 2015. “I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now,” he said.[18]
    • In a July 2015 Forbes interview on how Trump would replace Obamacare, a Trump spokesperson said, “Mr. Trump will be proposing a health plan that will return authority to the states and operate under free market principles. Mr. Trump’s plan will provide choice to the buyer, provide individual tax relief for health insurance and keep plans portable and affordable. The plan will break the health insurance company monopolies and allow individuals to buy across state lines.”[19]

    Republican Party Mike Pence

    caption
    • In May 2014, Mike Pence discussed the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), which is Indiana's "alternative to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expansion of Medicaid," according to The Washington Free Beacon. Pence said, "I think the Healthy Indiana Plan is a better way. I hope that our success with this program will help other states as well, and serve as yet another reason why we should start over on health care reform in America—why we should repeal Obamacare and replace it with a plan that includes consumer-driven health care."[21]
    • In 2012, Pence voted for HR 6079 - Repeal of Obamacare Act.[22]
    • In 2010, Pence voted against HR 3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare."[23]
    • In 2004, Pence voted for HR 4280 - Help Efficient, Accessible, Low Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2004, which, among other things, proposed measures that would limit medical malpractice liability.[24]

    Green ticket

    Green Party Jill Stein

    Jill-Stein-circle.png
    • Stein spoke about several Colorado ballot measures at a campaign event in Denver on August 28, 2016, saying, “Colorado is leading the charge. These are the things we need to do at the national level.” Stein offered praise for a Medicare-expansion ballot measure. She said, “Ultimately, we want to go to a single-payer system” and the ballot measure “gets us started.”[26] In an interview with The Colorado Independent on August 27, 2016, however, Stein said she does not endorse the plan. “I don’t want to throw my weight behind an endorsement at this point. But I would certainly respect anyone who sees fit to work on it,” said Stein.[27]
    • At a town hall event hosted by CNN on August 17, 2016, Stein was asked if she was “anti-vaccine.” Stein said, “I think there's kind of an effort to divert the conversation from our actual agenda. The idea that I oppose vaccines is completely ridiculous.”[28]
    • In an interview with The Washington Post published on July 29, 2016, Jill Stein said that while vaccines were “an invaluable medication,” she was concerned with vaccine safety and government oversight of mandatory vaccinations. "Like any medication, they also should be — what shall we say? — approved by a regulatory board that people can trust. And I think right now, that is the problem. That people do not trust a Food and Drug Administration, or even the CDC for that matter, where corporate influence and the pharmaceutical industry has a lot of influence."[29]
    • In a February 8, 2016, interview with Robert Scheer, Stein said her approach to healthcare is similar to Bernie Sanders'. She explained, "The one place we differ from Bernie on health care is by defending the Affordable Care Act, or saying that we're going to build on the Affordable Care Act, because that's the mythology that the health insurance system uses, that we can grow our way incrementally to a single-payer system. And you can't; you really have to kiss it goodbye and expand Medicare in one fell swoop, which can be done very quickly and efficiently."[30]
    • During a February 5, 2016, interview, Jill Stein described how her "Green New Deal" would reduce healthcare costs. She said, "[W]hen you shut down the endless stream of pollution into our air, our water, our consumer products, etc., that derive from fossil fuels, we get so much healthier that it massively reduces our health care costs. And this is not just a hypothetical. This actually happened in the country of Cuba when their oil pipeline went down, so we know this is really true. When you take the pollution out of the air, you enable people to eat a fresh and healthy and sustainable food system and you integrate public transportation into walking and biking so we can actually use our own motor power to get places, that creates the real foundation for health that we in this country spend $3 trillion a year for. And we are only getting sicker; we are not getting better."[31]
    • In a November 3, 2015, interview, Jill Stein said she would push for a Medicare-for-all system in her first 100 days if elected president. "The...thing that we will do is create health care as a human right, which is critical and also must be done in order for people to be productive and creative members of society we need to be healthy. And we’ll actually save money, not lose money, by moving to an improved Medicare-for-all, which is far simpler and saves about US$400 billion a year in waste, paper pushing, and pharmaceutical and insurance company profiteering. That money can be put toward covering everyone comprehensively."[32]
    • On Stein's 2016 presidential campaign website, she stated she would like to "[e]stablish an improved 'Medicare For All' single-payer public health insurance program to provide everyone with quality health care, at huge savings."[33]
    • In the 2012 "People's State of the Union," responding to President Obama's "State of the Union" address, Stein said, "[M]y administration will honor the right to quality health care through an improved Medicare for All program. This will provide comprehensive care for all. It will be free to consumers at the point of delivery, but will save money overall by reducing the massive wasteful health insurance bureaucracy and by stabilizing medical inflation. And it restores freedom of choice so you pick your health care provider, and your care is decided by you and your provider– not by a profiteering insurance executive. This will be federally financed and democratically controlled."[34]
    • Read more of Jill Stein's public statements on healthcare.

    Green Party Ajamu Baraka

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    • During the final 2016 presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, Baraka tweeted, "We must stop reauthorizing & reinstating the Hyde Amendment. Comprehensive healthcare includes reproductive care for ALL women." The Hyde Amendment is the 40-year-old legislative provision that bans federal funding of most abortions.[36][37]
    • On October 13, 2016, Baraka tweeted, "It's problematic how quickly our politicians jump on the bandwagon for nuclear war yet hesitate to ensure free healthcare and a living wage."[38]
    • "Its unfathomable that the US does not a have a single-payer system when it spends more money per capita on healthcare than any OECD country," Baraka tweeted on October 7, 2016. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has 35 member countries and is headquartered in Paris. The organization is dedicated to promoting "policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world."[39][40]
    • Read more about Ajamu Baraka.

    Libertarian Party Libertarian ticket

    Gary Johnson

    Gary-Johnson-(New Mexico)-circle.png
    • In a statement to Reason.com, Johnson sought to clarify his stance on mandatory vaccinations. He said, “Today, there are no federal laws mandating vaccinations, and that is as it should be. No adult should be required by the government to inject anything into his or her body. … Government has a responsibility to help keep our children and our communities safe. At the same time, government has a responsibility to preserve individual freedom. Vaccination policies must respect both of those responsibilities. I personally believe in vaccinations, and my children were vaccinated. But it is not for me to impose that belief on others.”[41]
    • In 2011, Johnson tweeted that he was against mandatory vaccinations. But in an interview with Vermont Public Radio on August 24, 2016, Johnson said he had changed his position on the issue. "You know, since I’ve said that ... I’ve come to find out that without mandatory vaccines, the vaccines that would in fact be issued would not be effective. So, it’s dependent that you have mandatory vaccines so that every child is immune. Otherwise, not all children will be immune even though they receive a vaccine. In my opinion, this is a local issue. If it ends up to be a federal issue, I would come down on the side of science and I would probably require that vaccine," said Johnson.[42]
    • In October 2012, Gary Johnson called the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, "a torpedo in a sinking ship." He said, "I think the economy’s going to collapse" as a result of the healthcare law.[43]
    • In July 2012, Johnson said he was "opposed to government-mandated health insurance, period," in an interview with The Daily Caller.[44]
    • After the Affordable Care Act was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court in June 2012, Johnson released a statement to criticize the decision. "Whether the Court chooses to call the individual mandate a tax or anything else, allowing it to stand is a truly disturbing decision. The idea that government can require an individual to buy something simply because that individual exists and breathes in America is an incredible blow to the bedrock principles of freedom and liberty. It must be repealed, and Congress needs to get about doing so today," Johnson wrote. He added, "Government cannot create a system that will reduce costs while increasing access. Only competition and the price transparency that competition will bring can accomplish the imperatives of affordability and availability."[45]
    • Read more of Gary Johnson's public statements on 2016 campaign issues.

    Libertarian Party Bill Weld

    William-Weld-circle.png
    • In an August 2016 interview with Jen Rogers of Yahoo! Finance, Weld discussed the Obamacare mandate. He said, "I understand that if you want to cut costs, you’ve got to get more people in the system, so I always supported the mandatory feature there, unlike most Republicans, because I know that if you don’t do that, you’re not going to get the 28-year-old bartender who’s making $125,000 a year into the system and he’ll not insure and then when he breaks his leg skiing at Sugarbush, he’ll show up at the emergency room."[47]
    • During a meeting between The Washington Post editorial board, Gary Johnson, and Bill Weld on July 7, 2016, Weld was asked to comment on a free market approach to healthcare with insurance to cover catastrophic injuries and illness. Weld said, "Well, you know, I’ve in the past thought that health savings accounts were a good idea so that’s getting more of the decision-making into the hands of the individual so to that extent I’m not thematically off this, off this truck." He continued, "But I think if you can introduce more competition, let people shop across state lines. I thought [former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich] wasn’t crazy when he proposed letting people shop in Canada."[48]
    • Read more about Bill Weld.

    Withdrawn candidates

    Recent news

    The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 2016 presidential candidates healthcare. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

    See also

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. Gallup, "More Americans Negative Than Positive About ACA," September 8, 2016
    2. NPR, "Rates Up 22 Percent For Obamacare Plans, But Subsidies Rise, Too," October 24, 2016
    3. CNN, "Republicans go on offense over Obamacare," October 25, 2016
    4. HillaryClinton.com, "Hillary Clinton’s Comprehensive Agenda on Mental Health," accessed August 29, 2016
    5. The Hill, "Clinton calls for EpiPen maker to lower price," August 24, 2016
    6. The Atlantic, "Hillary Clinton to Congress: Come Back to D.C. and Fund Zika Research," August 9, 2016
    7. CBS News, "Hillary Clinton to back public option for health care," July 9, 2016
    8. Democratic Party, "The 2016 Democratic Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
    9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Tim Kaine United States Senator for Virginia, "Health Care," accessed July 28, 2016
    11. PBS Newshour, "Tim Kaine pick puts spotlight on preventative care," July 23, 2016
    12. The Washington Post, "Smoking Ban Passes In Va." February 20, 2009
    13. Altria, "Our Companies," accessed August 9, 2016
    14. CNBC, "Donald Trump blasts Obamacare — with a lot of help from running mate Mike Pence," November 1, 2016
    15. CBS News, "Donald Trump: Birth control should not be done by prescription,'" September 15, 2016
    16. DonaldJTrump.com, "Healthcare reform to make America great again," accessed March 3, 2016
    17. The Washington Post, "Transcript of the New Hampshire GOP debate, annotated," February 6, 2016
    18. Forbes, "On '60 Minutes', Donald Trump Says Obamacare Is A Disaster - But His Own Plan Is Even Worse," September 27, 2015
    19. Forbes, "Donald Trump Hates Obamacare - So I Asked Him How He'd Replace It," July 31, 2015
    20. Republican Party, "The 2016 Republican Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
    21. Free Beacon, "Pence Pushes Privatized Medicaid Program," May 20, 2014
    22. Congress.gov, "H.R.6079," accessed April 2, 2015
    23. Congress.gov, "H.R.3590," accessed April 2, 2015
    24. Congress.gov, "H.R.4280," accessed April 2, 2015
    25. Congress.gov, H.R. 660," accessed April 2, 2015
    26. The Denver Post, "Green Party’s Jill Stein says Colorado leading the way to the future," August 28, 2016
    27. The Colorado Independent, "In Colorado, Green Party’s Jill Stein won’t endorse the ColoradoCare universal healthcare ballot measure," August 27, 2016
    28. CNN, "Jill Stein: I will have trouble sleeping at night if either Trump or Clinton is elected," August 17, 2016
    29. The Washington Post, "Jill Stein on vaccines: People have ‘real questions’," July 29, 2016
    30. Huffington Post, "Scheer Intelligence: Jill Stein-Presidential Candidate," February 8, 2016
    31. Political People Blog, "Dr. Jill Stein on Foreign Policy, Bernie Sanders and a 'Green New Deal,'" February 5, 2016
    32. teleSUR, "US Presidential Candidate Jill Stein: I Want to Be President to Save the World," November 3, 2015
    33. Jill 2016, "Power to the People Plan," accessed July 7, 2015
    34. ProCon.org, "Text: People's State of the Union," accessed July 7, 2015
    35. Green Party, "The 2016 Green Party Platform on Social Justice," accessed August 23, 2016
    36. Twitter, "Ajamu Baraka," October 19, 2016
    37. Politico, "POLITICO-Harvard poll: Clinton voters eager to scrap Hyde Amendment," October 26, 2016
    38. Twitter, "Ajamu Baraka," October 13, 2016
    39. Twitter, "Ajamu Baraka," October 7, 2016
    40. OECD, "About the OECD," accessed October 27, 2016
    41. Reason, "Libertarian Gary Johnson Comes Out Against Carbon Taxes, Mandatory Vaccines," August 26, 2016
    42. VPR, "In Reversal, Gov. Gary Johnson Now Supports Mandatory Vaccination," August 24, 2016
    43. Politic365, "Libertarian Nominee Gary Johnson on Obamcare: 'A Torpedo in a Sinking Ship,'" October 17, 2012
    44. Daily Caller, "Johnson reminds voters: Romney authored ‘the blueprint’ for Obamacare," July 23, 2012
    45. Reason, "Gary Johnson on ObamaCare Ruling," June 28, 2012
    46. Libertarian Party, "The 2016 Libertarian Party Platform," accessed August 23, 2016
    47. The Libertarian Republic, "Bill Weld Supports Obamacare Mandate. Still Holds Hillary Clinton In High Esteem." August 31, 2016
    48. The Washington Post, "A transcript of The Washington Post editorial board’s meeting with Gary Johnson and William Weld," July 7, 2016