00:00U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled the framework of what he's calling the Great Health
00:05Care Plan, a sweeping proposal he wants Congress to pass as Americans face rising medical costs
00:12and insurance premiums. The announcement comes as federal health subsidies expire,
00:18putting pressure on Republicans to offer an alternative. In a recorded video released by
00:24the White House, Trump laid out the core idea behind his plan in simple terms. Today I'm thrilled to
00:30announce my plan to lower health care prices for all Americans and truly make health care
00:36affordable again. We're doing things that nobody's ever been able to do. We're calling it the Great
00:42Health Care Plan. Instead of putting the needs of big corporations and special interests first,
00:48our plan finally puts you first and puts more money in your pocket. The government is going to pay
00:55the money directly to you. It goes to you and then you take the money and buy your own health care.
01:02Nobody's ever heard of that before and that's the way it is. The big insurance companies lose
01:08and the people of our country win. This proposal locks in the massive discounts on prescription drugs
01:15that my administration is achieving through our most favored nation drug pricing agreement.
01:21Now, when you hear about that, for 40 years they've been trying to do it, but they're never able to do
01:28it. No other president was able to do it. I got every other country to approve it. By the use of tariffs
01:34and other things, they all approved it. Nobody else got it. No other president got it. And for the most
01:40part, they didn't even try because they felt it was impossible. It'll bring down drug prices 80, 90
01:46percent. In some cases, just numbers that nobody's ever heard of before. Your prescription drugs will
01:52come way, way down. And under this policy, the prices of many drugs will be slashed by 300, 400,
02:01and even 500 percent starting this month at the TrumpRx.gov. So instead of Americans paying the
02:09highest drug prices in the world, which we have for decades, we will now be paying the lowest cost
02:15paid by any other nation. So any other nation that's paying the lowest cost, that's what we're
02:20going to pay. And the American people will get the savings. So I have to reiterate, the lowest price
02:27in the world is what you're going to pay before you were paying the highest price in the world by far.
02:33And the politicians did nothing about it. So I'm asking Congress to complete the work that we've
02:39started. Next, my plan would reduce your insurance premiums by stopping government payoffs to big
02:45insurance companies and sending that money directly to the people. Obamacare was designed to make
02:51insurance companies rich. I call it the Unaffordable Care Act, with billions of dollars in taxpayer
02:57subsidies that helped their stock prices skyrocket over 1,700 percent. As you paid more money for
03:06health care every single year, more and more, the premiums went higher and higher. I want to end this
03:13flagrant scam and put extra money straight into the health care savings account in your name,
03:19and you go out and buy your own health care. And you'll make a great deal. You get better health
03:24care for less money. That way you can choose the care that is right for your family. To further reduce
03:29insurance premiums, my plan ends the giant kickbacks to insurance brokers and corporate middlemen
03:35that only drive up the costs. And that's what they're intended to do, drive up the costs. But we're
03:41driving down the costs. And it fully funds a long neglected part of the law known as the cost
03:47sharing reduction program. This measure alone should cut premiums on the most popular Obamacare
03:55plans. It's hard to believe there are any because it's a hated program. It's unaffordable. But it's
04:01going to cut them by an average of 10 to 15 percent. Next, the Great Health Care Plan. That's the name.
04:08It's called the Great Health Care because it's great health care at a lower price. Mandates unprecedented
04:14accountability and transparency from insurance companies and all health care providers so that
04:21special interests can no longer profiteer at your expense. As the saying goes, sunlight is the best
04:28disinfectant. That is why my plan orders all insurance companies to publish rate and coverage
04:34comparisons in very plain English. It requires insurers to publish detailed information about
04:42how much of your money they're going to be paying out in claims versus how much they're taking in in
04:49profits. In other words, you will be able to watch the scam. It forces them to release detailed data on
04:55how many claims are being denied and whether those denials are eventually overturned on appeal.
05:01And most importantly, it will require any hospital or insurer who accepts Medicare or Medicaid
05:07to prominently post all prices at their place of business so that you are never surprised and you can
05:14easily shop for a better deal or better care. And you're going to end up doing both. You're going to get
05:21a better deal and better care. We will have maximum price transparency and costs will come down
05:28incredibly. I'm calling on Congress to pass this framework into law without delay. Have to do it
05:35right now so that we can get immediate relief. The White House said the plan Trump laid out in a taped
05:41video message would codify his efforts to lower drug prices by tying prices to the lowest price paid by
05:48other countries. The cornerstone is his proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings
05:55accounts so they can bypass the federal government and handle insurance on their own.
06:00The Great Health Care Plan will accomplish this through four common sense pillars.
06:05Number one, permanently lowering prescription drug prices. Congress can get this done by codifying
06:11President Trump's historic Most Favored Nation initiatives into law to guarantee Americans the same low prices
06:18for prescription drugs that people in other countries around the world pay. Additionally,
06:24by increasing a consumer choice by making more verified safe pharmaceutical drugs available for
06:30over-the-counter purchases. Number two, the Great Health Care Plan will stop sending big insurance
06:36companies billions in extra taxpayer funded subsidy payments and instead send that money directly to
06:42eligible Americans to allow them to buy the health insurance of their choice. Additionally, by funding a
06:48cost-sharing reduction program for health care plans and ending kickbacks from pharmacy benefit
06:53managers to large brokerage middlemen. Number three, the Great Health Care Plan will maximize price
07:00transparency by requiring any health care provider or insurer who accepts either Medicare or Medicaid to
07:07publicly and prominently post their pricing and fees to avoid surprise medical bills. This is an incredibly
07:14popular policy that has been bipartisan for many years and President Trump is officially and firmly
07:19calling on Congress to get it done. And number four, holds big insurance companies accountable right by
07:25requiring them to publish rate and coverage comparisons up front on their websites in plain English so
07:32consumers and everyday Americans can make the best purchasing decisions for them and their families. These are
07:38common sense actions that make up President Trump's Great Health Care Plan and they represent the most
07:43most comprehensive and bold agenda to lower health care costs to have ever been considered by the
07:49federal government. Congress should immediately take up President Trump's plan and pass it into law.
07:55For Americans watching at home, you can visit GreatHealthCare.gov right now for more information on the Great
08:02Health Care Plan. Mary.
08:03The President says he wants money to go directly to Americans so they can buy their own insurance. How exactly would this work?
08:12And can the President assure Americans that this will be enough to cover their health care costs?
08:16So this is the second principle in the President's health care plan, lowering insurance premiums
08:22specifically and ensuring that that money is going directly back to the American people and cutting the
08:27kickbacks that then raise those premiums. So this plan, once put into legislative text and passed by
08:34Congress and sent to the President's desk, will stop sending big insurance companies billions of an extra taxpayer-funded
08:40subsidy payments and instead send that money directly to eligible Americans to allow them to buy the health
08:46insurance of their choice through, you may have heard it be referred to as health savings accounts. Whether that ends up
08:52being the actual name of such accounts, we'll have to see. Again, Congress and the White House are going to work
08:56together to put this plan into action. And then secondly, the Great Health Care Plan will fund a cost-sharing reduction
09:03program for health care plans, which will save taxpayers at least $36 billion and reduce the
09:09most common Obamacare plan premiums by over 10 percent. And that's according to the Congressional Budget Office.
09:14The Press, 20 million Americans in recent weeks have seen their health care costs soar. Can he assure them that if this plan
09:20is put in place that they will be able to cover those costs?
09:22Ms. If this plan is put in place, every single American who has health care in the United States
09:28will see lower costs as a result. They will see more transparency. All of these proposals that are within
09:34the Great Health Care Plan are incredibly popular with the American people, and they will impact everyone,
09:40not just a small fraction of those who are within the health care marketplace, but every single American
09:45will continue to see their costs go down. And I will note that they already are, and with respect to
09:49prescription drug prices, when you look at what the President has done with most favored nations,
09:54you've seen these big pharmaceutical companies in the Oval Office saying that this President and his
10:00team were nonstop, around the clock, pressuring us and negotiating with us to lower the cost of
10:05prescription drugs for Americans. And we are already seeing that to the tune, in some cases, of more than
10:10500 percent. And that TrumpRx website is something that the administration will be formally launching very
10:16soon, so Americans will have access to those lower costs of drugs.
10:20The Press. Just to follow up on the health care plan, one of the things in the Affordable Care Act
10:24was coverage of pre-existing conditions. Is there any discussion or inclusion on that issue in the President's plan?
10:31Ms. The President's plan that he outlined today will have no impact on individuals in this country
10:36with pre-existing conditions. Obviously, that's a continued conversation that the White House will have
10:40with Congress, but that's not the President's intention with the Great Health Care Plan.
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