Former President Carter blasted President Trump for efforts to undermine ObamaCare on Wednesday, saying the White House is “leading the health care debate into treacherous waters.”
Carter wrote a joint op-ed with Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former prime minister of Norway, calling for universal health care to be implemented in the U.S. and around the world.
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The two leaders pointed to millions of people lacking health-care coverage and estimated thousands are dying prematurely due to a lack of coverage before ObamaCare was passed in 2010, calling it “a violation of basic human rights.”
“In a country as rich as the United States, blessed with talented medical professionals, world-class hospitals and research institutes, and an almost unparalleled capacity for technological innovation, the lack of universal health coverage should be a national scandal,” they wrote in the op-ed published by Time magazine.
The pair argued that while ObamaCare put health care in the right direction, “the tide has turned in the White House over the past twelve months.”
“President Trump seems intent on dismantling his predecessor’s reforms, through successive executive orders, including a halt on federal funding to provide health insurance coverage for nine million vulnerable children,” they wrote.
Trump ended subsidies for insurers selling ObamaCare plans last month. The payments were designed to help insurers lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income Americans.
The leaders called for leaders and citizens to demand universal health care and fight back against the health-care industry and pharmaceutical companies they claim are putting Americans’ lives at risk.
“The chaos and paralysis surrounding health reform on Capitol Hill must not be an excuse for vested interests to regain the initiative and block progress. Responsible leaders and citizens must come together and demand Americans enjoy the same rights to health as their fellow global citizens,” they wrote.
Carter predicted earlier this year that the U.S. will eventually adopt a single-payer health-care system.