President Barack Obama's outgoing administration.

As Donald Trump and congressional Republicans prepare to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, possibly without a replacement program, Americans, especially the poor, can expect health care in the US to remain "an international scandal, " Noam Chomsky says.

Access to health care is a leading example of the gap that exists in America between public opinion and establishment power, philosopher and social critic Chomsky told Truthout in a new interview centered around efforts among the political class in the US to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the signature policy of President Barack Obama's outgoing administration.

"The US health care system has long been an international scandal, with about twice the per capita expenses of other wealthy (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD) countries and relatively poor outcomes, " Chomsky said. "The ACA did, however, bring improvements, including insurance for tens of millions of people who lacked it, banning of refusal of insurance for people with prior disabilities, and other gains. "

On Thursday, just more than a week before Donald Trump's presidential inauguration, the US Senate took the first step to repeal the ACA, even as there is no clear plan to replace the law.

"It's conceivable that [congressional Republicans] might patch together some kind of plan, or that the ultra-right and quite passionate 'Freedom Caucus' may insist on instant repeal without a plan, damn the consequence for the budget, or, of course, for people, " Chomsky said.


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https://en.wikipedia.org/

https://www.usa.gov/health-insurance

http://www.census.gov/topics/health/health-insurance.html

http://www.census.gov/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-257.html

https://www.census.gov/