The Indiana, Nebraska, and West Virginia primaries have all ended, and Republican voters have made it clear who they want their presidential nominee to be – Donald Trump. In light of Trump’s crushing victory in the Indiana polls, Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas and presidential hopeful, has reportedly dropped his presidential bid leaving Trump a clear path to earning the official Republican nomination at the party convention this June.
Seeing Trump this close to winning the Republican nomination is astounding in the least. Just under a year ago, when Trump announced his candidacy for president, various reporters, political insiders, and politicians from the right declared it impossible for this businessman from New York with no political experience to be successful on the campaign trail. Only recently have political analysts began to realize a Trump presidency could be looming in the future of the United States.
The reality of Trump being a viable presidential candidate has many social workers, counselors, physicians, and other helping professionals asking what a Trump presidency would mean for healthcare and mental health in our country. The answer to this question can be found by reviewing Trump’s views on these topics.
Trump on Healthcare
Healthcare remains one of the fastest-growing occupations in the United States with a projected total of 163,537.1 million people working in the healthcare sector by 2020. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law in 2010 by President Obama, has allowed citizens to access health services they may not have been able to afford before the legislation was made law. More people are receiving healthcare, more physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals are providing services, and employment in the healthcare sector still remains desirable as professionals continue to navigate and settle in to the new healthcare environment created by the ACA.
If elected president, Trump reportedly has plans to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and create a new system.
“I would end Obamacare and replace it with something terrific, for far less money for the country and for the people,” said Trump
On the surface, a better system for less cost sounds great. However, in a healthcare environment still stabilizing from the most recent changes brought with the ACA, an upheaval of these new policies without a strategic replacement plan would be detrimental for professionals, their clients, and the healthcare workforce as a whole.
A quick look at Trump’s platform on healthcare policy reveals a plan to overturn the ACA, open up a free market insurance system, and allow people access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), but completely neglects to inform the public about how this plan will be enacted or what effects it might have on individuals and families who would lose their insurance coverage completely with the repeal of the ACA. The obscurity and lack of any evidential basis in his overall plans leaves healthcare professionals in the dark about how exactly this ‘new’ system would impact them and their clients.
Trump on Mental Health
Each year approximately 1 in 5 adults in the United States will experience mental illness. The current mental health workforce of social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and behavioral health specialists is unable to keep up with public need, subsequently causing 4,071 geographic areas in the country to be designated as having a severe mental health professional shortage. While many public leaders agree the deficit in the mental health workforce should be addressed, few seem to be actively doing anything to create such change.
Trump is no exception. In previous interviews and news reports Trump only brings up the lack of mental health service provision as being a significant issue in this country when addressing the wave of gun violence the country has experienced recently. If fact, the only reference Trump makes to mental health in his platform is cited in his views of Second Amendment Rights on how mental health issues should be addressed but should not impede citizens on their gun ownership rights. While Trump claims our country needs to fix the “broken mental health system”, he clearly lacks any willingness or concrete plans to do so.
So what exactly would a Trump presidency mean for healthcare and mental health professionals? From the look of it, we could expect to see (1) a significant increase in people who are uninsured or severely underinsured; (2) a decrease in access to needed health and mental health services; (3) a continued deficit in the mental health workforce; and (4) a system which overall is not adequately able to serve the people living here in the U.S.
Trump’s plan for the healthcare and mental health systems (or lack thereof) in this country doesn’t create any positive solutions to our current issues; making him unfit for the job of President of the United State of America. Our country needs a leader with a strategic plan to enact clear and concise legislation, to increase the effectiveness of our current systems, and to recognize the deficits and fill the gaps in service where needed.
As Americans who are concerned for the future of this country, we must set aside our assumptions, biases, and prior convictions to unite and vote for the candidate who is going to continue the progress we have worked so hard for. We must vote for the democratic candidate, and ensure we never have to experience a Trump presidency.
