Donald Trump’s Pants on Fire claim that he ‘never mentioned’ ending the Affordable Care Act

Former President Donald Trump raged against Vice President Kamala Harris on Truth Social for saying he wanted to end the Affordable Care Act, the federal law signed by then-President Barack Obama that expanded access to health insurance.

"Lyin’ Kamala is giving a News Conference now, saying that I want to end the Affordable Care Act," Trump posted Oct. 31. "I never mentioned doing that, never even thought about such a thing."

Trump has given mixed and incomplete information about his plan for the 2010 law during the current campaign, and Democrats including Harris have exaggerated how certain it is that Trump will do away with the law if he wins back the Oval Office. His campaign says he doesn’t want to repeal it anymore.

But it is ridiculously wrong for Trump to say he has never even mentioned getting rid of it. In his first campaign and as president, Trump supported multiple efforts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

Trump’s new claim fits into another moment of the campaign’s revisionist health history; his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, falsely said in September that Trump "chose to build upon" the Affordable Care Act. 

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to repeal the law, sometimes called Obamacare. Shortly after taking office, Trump discussed his "ambitious legislative agenda," which included eliminating the Affordable Care Act. He called it "a disaster" and said he wanted to save families from what he described as a "catastrophic rise in premiums and debilitating loss of choice and just about everything else."

Trump supported congressional Republicans’ failed repeal-and-replace efforts. One example is the American Health Care Act, a bill to repeal the health law’s subsidies and regulations, that the House passed in May 2017; it failed in the Senate. In June 2020, Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the law, but the court dismissed the case.

Trump also cut funding for the law’s marketing, outreach and enrollment assistance. He expanded access to short-term, limited-coverage plans that Democrats call "junk insurance," arguing they limit care and can lead to surprise medical bills.

During Trump’s presidency, Affordable Care Act enrollment declined by more than 2 million and the number of uninsured Americans rose by 2.3 million. 

During the 2024 campaign, Trump has said inconsistent things about whether he wants to overturn the law. In late 2023, Trump expressed interest in repealing and replacing the law. 

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"The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives," Trump wrote Nov. 25 on Truth Social. "We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!"

On Nov. 29 he wrote, "I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!"

Since then, he’s backtracked.

In March, he wrote on Truth Social that he is "not running to terminate" the health care law, but wants to make it "better" and "less expensive." 

He said during the Sept. 10 debate with Harris that he has "concepts of a plan" to replace it. 

But he hasn’t given more details, the Republican Party platform doesn’t address the Affordable Care Act, and he has not mentioned the law in his campaign promises.

In a statement for this article, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that "repealing Obamacare is not President Trump’s policy position. As President Trump has said, he will make our health care system better by increasing transparency, promoting choice and competition, and expanding access to new affordable healthcare and insurance options."

Trump said, "I never mentioned" wanting to end the Affordable Care Act and have "never even thought about such a thing."

We can’t read his mind, but we heard his words. And Trump as a candidate in 2016 and as president not only entertained and discussed that idea but sought to end the law through congressional action and at the Supreme Court.

He has said inconsistent things about his plan for the law if he wins the presidency — and his latest position is that a repeal is off the table. But it’s inaccurate and ridiculous to say he’s never "mentioned" wanting to scuttle the law. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!

PolitiFact Staff Writer Samantha Putterman contributed to this report.

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