The Health Care Reform Proposals of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
As president, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump would take the nation down distinctly different paths on health care. In this post, we summarize the health reform proposals of each candidate, and—drawing on new estimates by Christine Eibner and colleagues at RAND Health—compare the proposals’ implications for the total number of people with insurance coverage, people’s out-of-pocket health care costs, and the federal budget.

RAND’s analysis is based on publicly available health care proposals on the candidates’ websites. Where these proposals lacked sufficient clarity for modeling, RAND sought additional information from the campaigns. When answers were not forthcoming, or did not fully resolve questions, RAND made reasonable assumptions that were reviewed and critiqued by independent experts. RAND modeled only those proposals for which it had adequate detail and technical capacity.

The Starting Point

As a starting point, Clinton and Trump propose dramatically different approaches to the Affordable Care Act (ACA): Clinton would maintain the ACA and Trump would repeal it. In estimating the impact of Trump’s proposal, RAND assumes a full repeal of the law including insurance subsidies, expanded eligibility for Medicaid, and individual market reforms such as bans against preexisting condition exclusions. RAND also assumes that repeal would eliminate the ACA’s financing mechanisms such as its Medicare payment reforms and taxes on health plans and medical devices. Consequently, RAND estimates that compared to maintaining the ACA as is, repeal would cause nearly 20 million people to lose their insurance in 2018, increase average premium and out-of-pocket costs for people who buy insurance on their own, and increase the federal deficit. Trump’s repeal of the ACA would increase the federal deficit because the loss of savings from the law’s Medicare reforms and revenues from fees and taxes would be greater than savings from the elimination of insurance subsidies and the Medicaid expansion.

'New York Times' Editor: 'We Owed It To Our Readers' To Call Trump Claims Lie
The New York Times recently published a story that examined the way that Donald Trump's presidential campaign promoted his tax plan. Trump had offered a big tax break to businesses, and his campaign told a leading business group he supported the tax break. He got their endorsement. Then his campaign told independent budget analysts he was against the same tax break.

The New York Times called this a lie — specifically, "the trillion-dollar lie."

The Times is using that word "lie" often in its coverage of Donald Trump, and Dean Baquet, the paper's executive editor, explains why on NPR's Morning Edition.

Trump Admits That He Will Lose The Election If He Releases His Tax Returns
STEPHANOPOULOS: Is there something…

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: George, it is very simple. Yes, but they’re all linked. It’s called the link.

It’s very simple, if my audit is finished, that’s great.

Now, I have to tell you. I watched Mitt Romney four years ago. He waited until September to give them, just before the election. They made him look so bad, it was so unfair, I actually think he didn’t lose because of the 47 percent, I think he lost because of a couple of really minor items in tax return where he did nothing wrong. So it is unfair.

But I will say, when I’m finished with the audit, I’ll do it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Richard Nixon released his even though his were under audit.

TRUMP: I don’t use Richard Nixon as necessarily the guide, OK. I mean, you know, it’s an interesting person to use, but don’t use it.

Donald Trump Challenges Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails

DORAL, Fla. — Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially sanctioning a foreign power’s cyberspying of a secretary of state’s correspondence.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, staring directly into the cameras. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

90% of Sanders Supporters Back Clinton: Pew Research
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Pew Research Center published some interesting polling results today to coincide with the Democratic National Convention illustrating “Clinton’s March to Nomination.” Their take away is 90 percent of “consistent” supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders now favor Sec. Hillary Clinton over her Republican rival.

But, through their random-digit-dial surveys conducted in English and Spanish, Pew found that 44 percent of Democrats changed their nominee preference during the course of the primaries.

Sanders supporters were almost as fickle in their support of the senator from Vermont. He did slightly better with loyalty from his supporters, but still just twenty percent of primary voters consistently named him as their first choice.

Pew also found the Democratic primary race support for the candidates divided along demographic lines including race, gender, education, and age. The only surprise to those following the news during the primaries is, I think, how evenly split support was in some of the demographic categories.