Beyond winning a Nobel Peace Prize (rather ironically), one of the biggest things that former president Barack Obama will always be remembered for is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The presentation of this bill, coupled with the turbulent terrain of the health care sector at the time, made ACA appear like the one solution to all our problems. Fast-forward to nearly a decade later, and the simple truth is that the reality we now face is vastly different from what was originally imagined.

For reasons beyond the ken of most rational people, the incumbent President, Joe Biden, remains strongly in favor of this policy. What’s more, if he has his way, he fully intends to strengthen the Affordable Care Act during the course of his second tenure. However, former president, Donald Trump has slightly different ideas on the topic. Simply put, Trump wants to overhaul the ACA in its entirety and replace it with something new and, hopefully, far better.

So, let’s face the facts for a moment; whether or not what Trump intends to replace the ACA with would be better is a matter that only the future can decide. However, does Trump have a valid case for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act to begin with?

The evidence on ground would suggest that not only does Trump have a leg to stand on in this regard, but perhaps this measure is even long overdue! But please, don’t take anyone’s word on this. Instead, let’s look at what the facts and figures have to say about the performance of this scheme.

Without a doubt, one of the best places to begin our assessment would be the cost implications of subscribing to this plan. The costs of using Obamacare have been prohibitive almost from the very moment that the program took off. So much so that it didn’t take long for the government to start promising premium reductions. Yet, over the years, what we have seen has been the exact opposite, as there have been major increases in the price of using this service. Case in point, from 2010 to 2016 alone, family premiums have risen by a whopping 32 percent!

But you don’t have to be worried because premiums aren’t the only things rising with Obamacare – deductibles have been following suit, too. It almost makes one wonder whom the Affordable Care Act is supposed to be affordable to.

However, as the saying goes, money isn’t everything. So, let’s move past cost implications and come to something perhaps more important – the fact that ACA almost effectively dictates our choice. What makes this even more painful is that it does it so subtly that only a few people ever truly notice. As with all things, references are important here. So, consider that, in 2014, the year that the insurance rules and mandates set by ACA came into full effect, it effectively phased out every program that didn’t meet its “standards.” The implication of this is that, that same year, nearly 5 million plans had to be canceled across 30 states in the U.S.

But again, maybe the government and Obamacare do know best. As such, we needn’t fixate on something so small. Rather, let’s discuss how the Affordable Care Act has made Medicaid so much “better.”

In the spirit of fairness, it would be remiss of anyone not to state that Medicaid was already struggling long before Obama and ACA came along. The government spending on health was also significantly up during this time. Perhaps that’s why it made absolute sense that, instead of trying to fix the apparently unsustainable and over-stretched program, the government adds several million more people to it through ACA. As a consequence, Medicaid spending is projected to reach $3.8 trillion by 2028!

There’s also the fact that the Affordable Care Act has extensively narrowed patient access to providers, thanks to its increased costs. Naturally, this limits your options and effectively herds you in a direction you’d ideally not go.

At the end of the day, it’s high time we accept the fact that Obamacare is not really in the interest of the masses. It spreads resources too thin for it to have any significant impact, and we need a leader who sees and understands this reality clearly.

Trump’s push for major health care reforms may seem excessive to some, but we’ve never needed it more than we do right now. Leaving Biden in office is a sure way to dig ourselves into an even deeper hole here!