So what is next?
What should one do in the next sixty five days or so?
There are three immediate health care things that I can think of that will be relevant to do soon.
First, if you are eligible for an ACA plan or Medicaid today, sign up now. We know from 2017 that the first executive order signed was to substantially reduce outreach and availability of ACA plans. We know that this led to a substantial (25-30%) decrease in average applications submitted per county immediately after the inauguration of Trump than before during the Obama administration. We can anticipate a substantial increase in administrative burden to prove “deservingness” and eligibility on January 21st. So if you are eligible, sign up NOW. Get the contract signed and initiated for January 1 coverage.
Second, if you are at all thinking about reproductive health care for you, your partner(s) or other people in your life, get what you can get done now. If you want an IUD or other LARC, go get it. If you think that Plan B is part of your package of reproductive autonomy, go order a few extra packages as it is shelf stable for most of a Trump term. We know that there are large natalist factions in the GOP and the plain logic of Dobbs indicates that Griswold is not safe.
Third, if you have medications or other medical consumable goods that have substantial foreign components in them, see if you can stockpile or extend your script to a longer prescription in December. If we are to see 20-30-40-50-100% tariffs the entire supply chain is going to be an omni-shambles. Extending a 30 day scrip to 90 days might let you skip the initial ombi-shambling implementation and give you until March until you need to figure out what to do next.
I’m thinking about a lot more things, especially on the home health workforce angle, but these are three concrete steps to do NOW.