Trump claims ‘nobody’s seen their doctor’ in attack on Obama’s healthcare promise at Georgia rally

DALTON, GEORGIA: President Donald Trump attacked former President Barack Obama’s healthcare record during a rally in Dalton, Georgia, on Friday, October 16, claiming that “nobody's seen their doctor” after the Democrat promised Americans they could keep their physicians under his healthcare law. 

Trump made the remarks while campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins and gubernatorial hopeful Rick Jackson ahead of the upcoming November midterm elections. His comments came two days after he described a hypothetical medical emergency at one of his rallies as “collateral damage,” prompting a public response from a CNN medical analyst.

Trump claims Obama misled Americans about keeping their doctors

During his remarks, Trump discussed US exports and manufacturing before turning to Obama, whom he called a “terrible president” and “The Divider in Chief.”

“Barack Hussein Obama said you'll never have manufacturing in our country. Remember that? Very, very sad. He always, he also said you can have your own doctor. How did that work out? Nobody's seen their doctor,” the 80-year-old said.

The president continued by describing people supposedly returning to their doctors after years without seeing them. “In fact, a couple of people saw their doctor recently after about a 20-year miss,” Trump said. “No, they saw their doctor, and the doctor had aged. They didn't even recognize him. You can't have your own doctor. They lied to you so badly, but he said you'd never have manufacturing.”

Trump appeared to be referring to Obama’s repeated assurances during the debate over the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, that Americans who liked their existing doctors could keep them. That promise reportedly proved misleading for some people because changes in insurance coverage and provider networks meant certain patients lost access to their preferred physicians.

The Affordable Care Act expanded insurance coverage, while access to particular doctors continued to depend on individual insurance plans and their provider networks.

Trump’s ‘collateral damage’ remarks about rally medical emergency draw scrutiny

Just two days before, on Wednesday, during a rally in Arizona, Trump described how his medical team would supposedly respond if an attendee suffered a heart attack.

“I travel with more doctors than any human being. If people get sick in the audience, they leave 'em alone. You know what they call them? Collateral damage,” he said, drawing chuckles from the crowd.

The president then described a friend in the audience who he said appeared unwell. “If that person right over there, a friend of mine, he looks like shit, actually. He looks like he's ready to have a heart attack. If he actually had a heart attack, you know what my doctors would do? … They would leave him alone!” Trump remarked.

“I say, 'Please help him!' They'd say, 'No sir, we can't leave your side.' But he's dying of a heart attack! 'Sir, he's collateral damage,'” he futher said, adding that the medical team had several ambulances but would not use one for anyone else.

It was unclear whom Trump was referring to. However, CNN medical analyst Jonathan Reiner challenged the suggestion that White House medical personnel would ignore an attendee experiencing a medical emergency.

“This is completely untrue, and an actual insult to the fabulous doctors the White House Medical Unit,” Reiner wrote online. He added that members of the unit “would never call a spectator 'collateral damage'. They would save their life.”