The stakes are high in this presidential election, and women’s health policy will be affected by our new commander in chief and his administration, no matter who wins. So, as the 2024 presidential election quickly approaches, make sure you know where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand on important issues related to women’s health and healthcare.
You can delve deeper into each candidate’s positions on their websites (do your research on
KamalaHarris.com and DonaldJTrump.com), but here’s a brief summary of some of the key issues affecting the health of women and those assigned female at birth.
medical insurance
Affordable Care Act (ACA)
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Donald Trump wants to replace the ACA with “much better health care.” During the debate he mentioned that he has a “concept of a plan” for health system reform, but has not issued specific details.
Trump campaigned in 2016 to repeal and replace the ACA. Although that effort failed, his administration made other changes, including zero the penalty for not having insurance, end certain subsidiesand reduce funding for outreach and enrollment support.
Health insurance
State health insurance
Harris
Harris has said she will protect Medicare by taxing millionaires and billionaires and closing tax loopholes.
As vice president, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Lawwhich contained provisions to reduce Medicare prescription prices.
The Harris-Biden administration expanded coverage of mental health services and extended telehealth coverage through December 2024.
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Trump has said he will not make cuts to Medicare and will not change the retirement age, although he has not shared specific policies.
As president, Trump enacted tax cuts that accelerated the depletion of the Medicare Part A Trust Fund and repealed a federal board that aimed to rein in Medicare spending. Increased Medicare premiums for higher-income beneficiaries. It also relaxed Medicare telehealth rules to make remote care more accessible during the Covid pandemic.
Child and child care tax credits
Harris
Harris supports a $6,000 tax credit for parents of newborns and enhanced child tax credits ($3,600 for children under 6 and $3,000 for older children).
Harris supports the creation of paid family and medical leave at the federal level (the current Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees unpaid leave) and increased funding for child care providers. Proposes limiting child care costs to no more than 7% of a family’s income.
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Trump has not issued specific policy proposals, but in a New York Economic Club EventTrump claimed his proposals to increase tariffs on foreign imports would reduce childcare costs. He also said about childcare: “You have to have it.” Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, has said he supports a $5,000 child tax credit. A more modest proposal failed to pass the Senate due to Republican opposition.
LGBTQ Health
Harris
Harris has pledged in her campaign to pass the Equality Act, which protects LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.
The Biden-Harris administration restored Section 1557 of the ACA, which provides the broadest protections yet for health care based on gender identity and sexual orientation, for transgender people, and for gender-affirming care.
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Trump has pledged to ban gender-affirming care for youth and block the use of federal funds for such care.
Trump has also pledged to “keep men out of women’s sports” as part of the Republicans’ 2024 pledge to “end the left’s gender madness.”
As president, Trump created the Division of conscience and religious freedom at HHS and issued final regulation of consciousness expanded religious protections, creating opportunities for LGBTQ-based discrimination in certain circumstances.
Prescription drug prices
Harris
Harris supports expanding the number of drugs the government can negotiate and extending the $35 insulin limit for Medicare beneficiaries to all Americans.
Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)which requires the government to negotiate prices for certain drugs, caps out-of-pocket costs for medications, and caps insulin costs at $35 per month for Medicare enrollees.
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The Trump administration created a voluntary model for Medicare prescription plans to limit insulin costs to $35 per month and allowed states import medications from Canada; however, that was later rescinded. Trump initially supported the creation of a “MFN” Medicare state to limit government spending on certain drugs, but has since moved away from that position.
reproductive health
Abortion access
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Trump has taken credit by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, who eliminated the constitutional right to abortion. He favors letting states decide their own abortion laws and personally supports exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape, incest and threats to the mother’s life.
Although Trump has held various positions on abortion rights over the years. Recently, the saying that laws banning abortion after six weeks go too far, but later said he plans to vote for such a measure in Florida, his home state. Trump had previously not committed to veto a federal abortion ban if Congress passes one, but more recently he posted on social media that he would veto such a ban.
medical abortion
Harris
Harris supports the FDA’s decision to improve access to medical abortion pills by allowing them to be delivered by mail.
The Biden-Harris administration opposes the interpretation and application of the Comstock’s Law to avoid sending abortifacient drugs through the mail.
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Trump has suggested he would sometimes block the availability of medical abortion pills and suggested he would not block them at other times. Support for leaving abortion policy in the hands of the states allows states to block access to all abortions, including medical abortion pills.
Trump has not spoken publicly about his position on the Comstock Act, but many Republican leaders, including his running mate JD Vance, have called for implementing the Comstock Act to ban the mailing of medical abortion pills.
Access to contraception
Harris
Harris supports the proposal Right to Contraception Lawthat protects the right to contraceptives.
The Biden-Harris administration is struggling a federal lawsuit that challenges the ACA’s requirements to cover preventive services (including contraceptives). The administration has issued executive orders in support of contraception.
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At the beginning of the 2024 campaign, Trump said he was open to restrictions on contraceptives but then promised to never ban birth control.
The Trump administration’s policies paved the way for employers with religious objections to exclude contraception from employee health plans. Most Republican members of Congress, including Vance, opposed the Right to Contraception Act.
Fertility treatment/in vitro fertilization (IVF)
Harris
Harris supports guaranteed rights to IVF and supports the ACA, which includes access to coverage before, during and after childbirth. She advocated against a Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children and, therefore, cannot be destroyed.
She took a stand against Republicans blocking a bill that would have protected IVF.
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Trump supports access to IVF and said he would do it require insurance companies to cover costs, but did not detail how it would implement such a requirement.
The Republican platform opposes research using embryonic stem cells (which can be derived from the IVF process).
Maternal health/maternity care
Paid family and medical leave
Harris
In the past, Harris supported 12 weeks of paid leave for most workers, including new parents, caregivers and victims of intimate partner violence. During his presidential run, he expressed support for paid family and medical leave, but has not shared details.
