Will Trump Really Make America Great Again? Here’s How Donald Trump May Hurt Young Medical Professionals [Opinion]

Anyone who has followed the election knows Donald Trump’s motto was “make America great again.” The question is – is that really his intention? Does he have the best interest of Americans at heart? Will he be making America great for all Americans or is he just interested in the best interest of those of higher income?

As those who follow Donald Trump know, he has every intention of repealing Obamacare. In fact, Trump and his team have already taken steps towards repealing it. According to NPR, repealing Obamacare will strip roughly 18 million people of their insurance during the first year following its repeal.

For anyone who has government insurance – or those who only have insurance because of Obamacare – that’s terrifying! What happens if your child gets sick? Will you still be able to go to the doctor? Does Donald Trump have a health insurance plan in place to replace Obamacare or is he just repealing it without a back-up plan?

As International Business Times points out, low-income families who rely on Obamacare to have insurance are not the only individuals who will be negatively impacted by the repeal of Obamacare. Medical professionals all around the United States who rely on Obamacare and government funded insurances to fund their paychecks will also be hurt if Trump repeals Obamacare without having a backup in place.

International Business Times interviewed a doctor named Danny Neghassi, who frequently pulls double duty at a nonprofit health care center called Heritage Health Center in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Dr. Danny Neghassi is a 33-year-old medical expert who prides himself in treating more than just the surface of his patients. He likes to get to know his patients on a deeper level. He believes the level of care he has for his patients is what resulted in him pursuing nonprofit medicine despite it being much lower pay.

“It’s not a financial decision to go into medical school. There are ways to make money faster and without years of debt.”

Because Neghassi is a medical professional at a nonprofit health center, his income is directly connected to the whim of the federal government. This is why Dr. Danny Neghassi – and other young medical professionals like him – are worried about the inauguration of Donald Trump. What will happen to the source of income for the young medical professionals who focus on nonprofit medicine? Will the repeal of Obamacare put these young medical professionals out of a job?

Dr. Neghassi sees as many as 20 patients every single day for anything from a routine checkup to family planning. This young medical professional arrives at work early each day to catch up on paperwork which — as he points out — is another major flaw in the United States having such a convoluted insurance system.

As someone who has lived in New York for most of his life, Dr. Neghassi was swayed in the direction of charitable health care after he learned a lot of individuals did not get quality medical care because they didn’t make enough money to pay for it.

“Helping people who wouldn’t otherwise have help is very rewarding.”

Regardless of how good helping those who need health care but can’t afford it, Dr. Neghassi – as well as other young medical professionals still have bills to pay. For most, those bills include hefty student loans that were racked up as they were chasing after their dreams in medical school. It is not uncommon for a young medical professional to owe between $150,000 and $200,000 in student loans.

Young medical professions who opt for nonprofit medical care are unlikely to be able to pay off their student loans quickly. This is largely because family doctors have the third lowest annual income falling behind oncology and pediatrics. And doctors at a nonprofit health center? Well, they make even less than that.

Donald Trump’s decision to repeal Obamacare creates a problem for all of these young medical professionals who have large student loans and small paychecks. These medical professionals have opted for nonprofit medical care and small paychecks funded by government money. These young medical professionals are left waiting to see what Donald Trump has planned for their future — their paychecks.

Does Donald Trump have a back-up plan to replace Obamacare or are low-income families going to be without income and a lot of young medical professionals going to be without employment? Unfortunately, it isn’t really clear whether Donald Trump has given this any thought – or if he even cares.

Does Donald Trump have plans for government funded health insurance? He claims to. Unfortunately, those plans have a lot more mystery than anything else. This is what has those who rely on the insurance – including patients and medical professionals worried.

In the health care outline that Trump released during his campaign, he claimed that he wanted to use a block-grant funding program. Basically, the program would give each state a certain amount of funding via a grant for the state to use however they see fit. What Trump’s outline failed to mention was how big or small this grant was going to be.

In some ways, young medical professionals actually have more reason to be concerned than low-income families using the health insurance. Obamacare created a funding expansion that made it possible for nonprofit doctors and nurses to get paychecks. Has Donald Trump given these doctors and nurses any thought? Will there be funding or grants to pay them? Or – as some young medical professionals fear – will a funding to pay these doctors and nurses disappear once Donald Trump repeals Obamacare.

Urging all to support #NYHealthAct #singlepayer @ #Harlem Hosp. Too many patients struggle, w/ or w/o insurance pic.twitter.com/rUNPbaoeer

— Dr. Danny (@neghassi) April 14, 2016

Dr. Neghassi points out the fact that there will always be a market for doctors. All of these medical professionals working nonprofit care should be able to get another job. They, however, will be leaving their patients behind to get said jobs.

“My main concern is people’s access to affordable health care – particularly women, low-income communities and immigrants.”

The real question is – has Donald Trump given any thought to how he could be hurting these young medical professionals by repealing Obamacare? Please, share your thoughts on whether or not you think he could end up hurting young medical professionals in the comments section found down below.

[Featured Image by Tom Pennington/Getty Images]