Healthcare Showdown: Trump's New Battle with Obamacare

President Donald Trump is once again taking aim at the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. This time, he's not pushing for a full repeal like he did in his first term. Instead, he's focusing on the high costs of healthcare and the looming deadline to extend subsidies that help people pay for their insurance premiums. Trump has said he won't support extending the subsidies, which are set to expire on January 1. This leaves it up to Congress to find a solution or let the tax credits expire, which would raise the rates for 24 million people covered through ACA exchanges. During his campaign, Trump promised to repeal and replace the ACA, but he hasn't provided any details on what his plan would look like. Instead, he's focused on overhauling the COVID-era subsidies that have helped keep premiums down. Democrats have been pushing for an extension of the subsidies, and they've even shut down the government to demand it. They've also been highlighting the affordability concerns that were a big issue in the recent elections. Some Republicans are open to extending the subsidies, but Trump has said he would only support a plan that sends money directly to individuals rather than insurance companies. He's also been talking with some Democratic lawmakers about his ideas for a proposal. The debate over the ACA highlights the challenges of unwinding the law. Democrats may have unintentionally drawn attention to the problems with the law in their shutdown fight, but Republicans are still struggling to come up with a solution that will lower costs for families. The ACA has been a contentious issue since it was signed into law 15 years ago. The never-ending war over the law has been fueled partly by problems with it, but largely by the hyperpartisan era of modern politics. If Trump and Republicans attempt to repeal the ACA again, they will have a much harder political fight than in 2017. There are now more than twice as many people getting insurance through the ACA as there were then, and some of the law's provisions are popular, such as the ban on denying coverage or raising rates for people with preexisting health conditions.