Healthcare: Premiums and Congressional Stakes

Donald Trump has lambasted European countries as “decaying” and “weak”, singling out the UK, France and Germany for their immigration policies, whilst praising the Hungarian leader Viktor Orban for allowing “nobody in his country”. In an interview for Politico, Trump expanded on his administration’s new U.S. security strategy, which warned that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” unless it changes its migration policies.

In today’s episode, Sarah and Anthony unpack Trump’s views, and analyse how far the president is willing to interfere with America’s traditional allies.

The U.S. president also used the interview to expand on his vision behind healthcare reform, after being criticised for having no plan. As Congress races to beat a fast-approaching deadline that would see premiums rise sharply for millions of Americans, the president blames Democrats for the stalemate in Congress while promising to end subsidies for insurance companies. Does Trump have a plan to reform healthcare that will make it cheaper for Americans?

And, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on the future of birthright citizenship, following an executive order signed by Donald Trump in January. The president wants to end birthright citizenship for those born to parents who are in the country illegally. Hear why he thinks the law needs to be changed, and what it should mean to be an American citizen.

HOSTS: • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent

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This episode was made by George Dabby with Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Philip Bull. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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