Trump Stump Speeches: Health Care
Editor’s Note: For weeks, President Donald Trump has been campaigning in states that are key to the Republican Party’s chances of maintaining control of the House and Senate. We have reviewed seven speeches he gave from Oct. 10 to Oct. 22. This is part of a series of stories on his speeches.
President Donald Trump has made health care — in particular a “Medicare for All” plan proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders — a main theme in his campaign rallies across the country.
He claims that Republicans will “protect” Medicare, while Democrats will “totally obliterate” it. He supports these sweeping pronouncements by making false statements about the cost and details of Sanders’ plan, as well as who actually supports it. In Trump’s telling, all Democrats do, but that’s not the case.
We also found, in our examination of seven speeches over 12 days in October, that the president falsely told a crowd in Ohio that an opioid bill garnered “very little” support from Democrats, when they actually voted unanimously for it. He also boasted in several states of “incredible” or “tremendous results already” from the “right to try” law aimed at giving terminally ill patients quicker access to unapproved medications — but there’s no evidence anyone has received such access under the law.
And he continued to make misleading claims about health insurance premiums and protections for preexisting conditions.
Democratic Support for Opioid Bill
At a rally in Lebanon, Ohio, on Oct. 12, Trump falsely claimed a bill that seeks to address the opioid epidemic passed Congress with “very little Democrat support.” In fact, the legislation was a bipartisan bill offered by two Republicans and two Democrats. It was unanimously supported by Democrats in the House and Senate. In fact, the handful of votes against the bill all came from Republicans.
“I’ll soon sign into the law the largest legislative effort in history to address the opioid crisis where just this year we got $6 billion from Congress,” Trump said at the rally. “Thanks to [Republican Sen.] Rob Portman and a lot of others. Thank you, Rob. But Rob and so many others helped. Very little Democrat support.”
Earlier this year, thea bipartisan budget bill that included $6 billion to
