Donald Trump has never liked the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). He tried to overturn it during his term in office, but was blocked by the vote of Senator John McCain. Now, in the current campaign, he has again said that he would overturn the ACA if elected.
J.D. Vance knows this is an unpopular opinion, so when asked about it during the debate he lied. Here is what Politifact had to say about his lie:
As president, Trump worked to undermine and repeal the Affordable Care Act. He cut millions of dollars in federal funding for ACA outreach and navigators who help people sign up for health coverage. He enabled the sale of short-term health plans that don’t comply with the ACA consumer protections and allowed them to be sold for longer durations, which siphoned people away from the health law’s marketplaces.
Trump's administration also backed state Medicaid waivers that imposed first-ever work requirements, reducing enrollment. He also ended insurance company subsidies that helped offset costs for low-income enrollees, he backed an unsuccessful repeal of the landmark 2010 health law and he backed the demise of a penalty imposed for failing to purchase health insurance.
Affordable Care Act enrollment declined by more than 2 million people during Trump’s presidency, and the number of uninsured Americans rose by 2.3 million, including 726,000 children, from 2016 to 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau reported; that includes three years of Trump’s presidency.