The healthcare crisis under Donald Trump as President
30 April 2024
This essay discusses the pending healthcare crisis if Donald J. Trump is elected President. These scenarios, although tragic, are predictable for a population that refuses to see and act on the danger that Trump presents to the United States.
There will be a massive migration from the United States of physicians and other medical personnel who are or are perceived to be Muslim-American, Arab-American, Latino or from countries deemed by Trump to be “undesirable”.
Trump and his supporters are fiercely anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant. Trump has repeatedly threatened to deport tens of millions of immigrants and to use the National Guard or Army to assist. Trump’s harsh rhetoric against illegal immigrants also creates ill will against legal immigrants and those perceived as being immigrants. Although the United States currently has a strong legal system, it appears to be no match for Trump, who is “above the law” even when he has no actual power. If he becomes President again, we can expect a large number of police officers, prosecutors, judges and military personnel to follow his commands, even if they are illegal. Many worship Trump and others will take seriously his repeated threats against anyone who challenges him. As a result, we can expect many esteemed physicians and other medical personnel to leave the country, causing not only personal disasters for them but a crisis for the U.S. healthcare system.
If Trump is elected President on 5 November 2024, we can assume that the next day, if not before, a massive anti-immigrant campaign will begin against anyone who appears to be an immigrant, legal or not. Trump’s followers, whether the Proud Boys or others loyal to him will try to implement his wishes even before he is sworn into office. Cities with large Arab-American populations, such as Dearborn, Michigan near me, may become ghost towns as their population flees the country.
Those who believe they may be in danger should be prepared to leave the country by 6 November 2024 or perhaps before. Since millions of Americans may want to flee at that time, options may be limited for those who have not planned for it.
Abortion will be banned, both surgical and medical, making pregnancy hazardous for all women and girls, including medical personnel.
Trump regularly brags that he overturned Roe vs. Wade with his Supreme Court appointments, which strongly suggests that he will sign legislation or engage in executive actions to prohibit abortion rights. Pregnant women and girls who need abortions, whether due to miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, fetal abnormalities or otherwise, should assume they will be illegal throughout the United States. In addition, federal law may make it a felony to travel to obtain an abortion or to assist anyone in obtaining an abortion, which includes giving them advice or any type of assistance. This abortion ban will also cause a massive “brain drain” as physicians, medical personnel and their families leave the United States.
The Affordable Care Act will be abolished.
Trump and the Republican Party have made repeal of the Affordable Care Act a priority for a long time but have never proposed a substitute. Since 40 million Americans have coverage under this act, this repeal will devastate healthcare. Trump has also suggested he may cut Medicare and Medicaid, which would add to the devastation.
Physicians will be unable to practice medicine according to the standard of care regarding treatment in which Trump claims authority. For example, if Trump says that we should fight COVID-19 by injecting bleach, nobody will dare to contradict him for fear of his response. If Trump says that COVID-19 and other epidemics will just disappear, then medical professionals within and outside the government will be forced to back up his statements, upon threat of severe penalties for not agreeing.
Physicians and scientists will be unable to publish scientific findings that differ from Trump’s pronouncements, as happened in Trump’s first term due to his political interference with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, funding agencies will steer their dollars toward Trump’s priorities and not toward public health priorities.
The medical training system will be severely disrupted as J-1 and other visas are denied to physicians from countries detested by Trump.
“Every nation gets the government it deserves”. Of course, many of us are very busy and we detest the political system. But if we blind ourselves to danger or refuse to act, then we do deserve, to some extent, the misfortunes that will confront us. In any event, as citizens of a democracy, it is our responsibility to ensure that our government represents our views. We cannot be too busy for this.
I am working hard to support President Joe Biden’s reelection. I am willing to make personal sacrifices to ensure that the United States maintains its status as a democracy and that we can prevent devastation to our healthcare system. Life is about tradeoffs - we cannot get everything we want but have to make the best decision at the time. This is why lifelong Republicans are supporting Joe Biden for President. They don’t like many of his policies but they believe that preserving democracy is more important than these policy differences.
What are you going to do?
Please subscribe to this blog here - there is not and will never be a charge to subscribe. Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues.
The index to these articles is here.
I have another blog on Cancer and Medicine.
Email me at Nat@PathologyOutlines.com.
I also publish Notes at https://substack.com/note. Subscribers will automatically see my notes.
You can also follow me on LinkedIn, Threads: npernickmich and Tribel: @nat385440b