Trump presents a health-care proposal framework as Congress debates Obamacare subsidies
Trump presents a health-care proposal framework as Congress debates Obamacare subsidies
Key Points
President Donald Trump unveiled the basic concept of a health-care plan that the administration claims will reduce prescription prices and insurance premiums.
The Trump administration’s plan has been named “The Great Healthcare Plan,” according to the president, who unveiled the policy framework via video.
The announcement came as Congress’s effort to extend critical Affordable Care Act tax credits faces opposition from Senate Republicans.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump unveiled the broad outlines of a health-care plan that the White House claims will reduce prescription prices and insurance premiums.
The announcement came as a congressional proposal to extend major Affordable Care Act tax credits faces opposition from Senate Republicans, putting millions of people at danger of having their health insurance prices rise.
The Trump administration branded the initiative “The Great Healthcare Plan,” according to a video released Thursday morning.
The idea would formalize Trump’s recent agreements with big drugmakers to reduce the cost of certain prescription pharmaceuticals in the United States by pegging them to lower pricing abroad, as part of his “most-favored-nation” policy.
More than a dozen pharmaceutical companies agreed to reduce costs on specific drugs for Medicaid patients in exchange for a three-year tariff exemption.
As part of such agreements, firms agreed to sell some pharmaceuticals at a discount on Trump’s direct-to-consumer website, Trump Rx.
In his video introduction, Trump stated that decreased prescription prices will be reflected on the platform when it starts this month.
He said that prices will plummet by up to 500%, implying that prices would go well below zero.
It would also allegedly transfer money for health insurance coverage
“directly to the American people” rather than paying “big insurance companies billions in extra taxpayer-funded subsidy payments,”
according to the fact sheet. Trump has made similar statements recently.
The plan would also “fund a cost-sharing reduction program,” which the administration claims will “reduce the most common Obamacare plan premiums by over 10%.”
Other provisions of the policy include mandating health insurers to prominently display coverage comparisons “in plain English” on their websites, as well as information about overhead costs and claim denial rates.
It would also force providers who accept Medicare or Medicaid “to publicly and prominently post their pricing and fees to avoid surprise medical bills.”
The latest idea from the White House comes as senators remain deadlocked on an agreement to prolong the now-expired ACA, or Obamacare subsidies.
A bipartisan group of senators has been working on a path forward for weeks, but they recently reached a stumbling block over language related to the Hyde Amendment, a provision that prohibits the use of public funds for abortion services.
The White House plan notably excludes an extension of ACA subsidies, which Democrats have demanded as part of any health-care bargain.
The White House did not officially provide a proposal until Thursday, but Trump has often stated that he wants funds to flow directly to patients rather than insurers.
Some negotiators questioned if the White House strategy would jeopardize negotiations.
“We’ve all known that in order to move something forward, we’re going to need buy-in from the White House,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, one of the negotiators, told reporters Thursday. I mean, that’s the foundation of our strategy here.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, who is leading Democratic negotiations, said Thursday that she had not yet heard Trump’s plan but was optimistic about the conversations.
“Most of the areas have agreement, so what we need to do is get bill text together and then get final sign-off so that we can talk to our colleagues about what we’re proposing,” Shaheen told a news conference.
A White House official said on Thursday that the plan does not rule out the possibility of extending the subsidies but rather outlines the president’s preferences.
“This does not specifically address the ongoing bipartisan congressional negotiations,”
the White House official added. “It does say that we have a preference that money goes to people, as opposed to insurance companies.”
