North Carolina doctors warn Trump’s health care policies would drive up costs for patients, reduce access to care

Ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Wilmington that was focused on “the economy,” physicians from across North Carolina gathered virtually to raise concerns about how Trump’s health care policies would make care more expensive and harder to access for patients statewide. The doctors discussed how Trump’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, roll back the Inflation Reduction Act, and restrict access to reproductive health care would increase financial and medical hardship for patients in North Carolina.  “Donald Trump claims he wants to help Americans with economic relief, but his policies around health care do the exact opposite,” said Dr. Howard Mell, an emergency medicine physician in Cornelius. “Health care is an economic issue. It impacts every aspect of my patients’ lives. Nobody should have to go into debt just to get the care they need to live. But under another Trump presidency, this could become even more common.”  Dr. Mell also warned about the expensive and preventable consequences of unaffordable health care, saying, “When I have a patient who could not afford [an appointment] with their primary doctor, by the time they come to see me in the emergency department, it’s a true emergency and a costly...