Trump announces “The Great Healthcare Plan,” but it’s sparse on details
Washington — President Trump announced Thursday the “Big Health Plan,” his long-awaited health care proposal, and called on Congress to act.
The broad outlines published by the White House are, however, scarce in terms of details. especially since the president declared in his first term that he would release a health care plan, giving him and his team years to develop a comprehensive proposal. The document released Thursday by the White House mentions some of the things the administration has already been working on in recent months, such as negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the prices of certain drugs.
The White House says the proposal “would deliver on the President’s vision of sending money directly to the American people, lowering health insurance premiums, and reducing kickbacks that raise insurance premiums.”
The president said part of his proposal, which is expected to pass Congress, would require the federal government to send money directly to Americans so they can buy their own health care.
“The government is going to give you the money directly. It goes to you, and then you take the money and buy your own health care,” the president said in a five-minute video released by the White House. “No one has ever heard of it before, and that’s how it is.”
The White House has not given details on how the plan would work, although White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the money could go into health savings accounts.
“My plan would lower your insurance premiums by stopping government payments to big insurance companies and sending that money directly to the people,” the president also said. “Obamacare was designed to enrich insurance companies.”
Mr. Trump said his proposal would also require any hospital to “prominently display all of their facility’s prices so that you are never surprised and can easily purchase a better deal or better care.”
The president’s proposal comes as the Senate prepares to vote on expanding subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. In a rare bipartisan display, the House last week received a three-year extension enhanced premium subsidies from the ACA, which expired earlier this year.
The expiration of these grants meant sharp price increases for millions of Americans, and federal data shows around 14 million fewer people registered in ACA plans compared to last year.
