In a video posted to social media Thursday, President Trump announced an outline for new health care legislation. The plan does not include a remedy for people who buy their health insurance on Healthcare.gov, some of whom are facing sky-high premium hikes this month.
Trump dubbed the ideas "The Great Healthcare Plan." The White House issued a fact sheet and held a press call hosted by Medicare and Medicaid chief Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Oz said the planned legislation, which the administration is asking Congress to develop, has four pillars:
- Drug price reforms
- Health insurance reforms
- Price transparency for health costs
- Fraud protections and safeguards
Asked for specific policy details, Oz said it was a "broad framework" and referred further questions to a White House official who spoke on background. The official also did not provide detailed answers to reporters' questions, but did say that this future legislation would not replace other possible laws.
Familiar ideas
Both Oz and Trump talked about the plan as if it is a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, but the proposals are much narrower in scope than that law that passed with no Republican votes in 2010.
A bipartisan group of Senators is trying to hash out a bill to extend ACA enhanced subsidies, and Trump's plan appears not to preclude that short-term deal moving forward, but it is not a vote of confidence either.
"This does send a signal that Trump isn't looking to compromise with Democrats on the enhanced tax credits," says Cynthia Cox, a senior vice president at KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization. "This looks much more like a compilation of Republican ideas, including some that are already in the Affordable Care Act. It doesn't appear to address the rising premium payments that we're seeing."
Senate still working
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R.-Ohio, who has been leading the bipartisan talks on reviving the enhanced subsidies, told reporters Thursday he "loved" Trump's Great Healthcare Plan.
He said that the omission of the subsidies in Trump's plan did not throw a wrench into those negotiations. "No, the biggest wrench in our negotiations is that the Democrat leader has basically made public statements that, to me, sounds like he doesn't want Congress to make a deal."
A bill that the House of Representatives passed over the objections of Republican leaders in that body that would be a 3-year extension of the enhanced subsidies appears to be a nonstarter in the Senate, though it still has the support of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R.-AK, is also working on the bipartisan deal. She was more upbeat. "I'm not giving up," she told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday, which is the last day of ACA open enrollment. She noted that families are having to make their final decisions Thursday on whether to pay more for their coverage or go without health insurance.
"I don't think it is too late to try to salvage something," Murkowski said.
If a bipartisan fix comes together it would likely have to address people who have already paid a higher premium for their January coverage.
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