Now that most of nation has gone through the five stages of grief following Trump’s victory, its time to switch our focus to the first item that is likely on his list come January 2017. The odds are that repealing ObamaCare would be high on the list. Mitch McConnell, who famously said on the first day of Obama’s Presidency in 2008 that his primary mission is to make Obama a one time President, is taking the lead on the driving this effort. But there are objections stemming not only from the 20 million who are enjoying the benefits of the law but also from the hospital industry. Their main gripe is eliminating the Affordable Care Act without first crafting a “replacement” would create major hardships throughout the health care system.
Under the current strategy, Republicans would eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s funding but allow the money for Obamacare’s coverage to continue for another two or three years. The challenge would be to craft and enact a coverage scheme superior to Obamacare. Given that the plans in circulation now, which consist mostly of principles for reform rather than actual legislation, it is likely that the Republican plan could be one of lets “kick the can down the road” and claim victory in the meatime. Of course, all of this has not deterred Mitch McConnell from stating that the Obamacare repeal resolution will be the first item up in the new year. If the measure was to pass, the stock market could be impacted negatively. Especially hard hit would be pharmaceuticals, insurance and healthcare stocks not to mention the overall chaos that would ensue in the healthcare system by repealing ObamaCare.
And then there will be tweets from the new President which will continue to roil markets. Already, since his victory, he has made relations murky with China following his conversation with Taiwan President, slammed Boeing for charging billions of dollars for Air Force One and threatened to dislocate the pricing of drugs charged by large pharmaceutical companies. All of this was in just one week and he has yet to assume the role of President.