Trump takes on Obamacare, unveils ‘Great Healthcare Plan’, promises cash, choice to Americans

6 minutes ago

US President Donald Trump unveils the framework of his “Great Healthcare Plan,” proposing direct government payments to Americans to buy their own health insurance. The plan focuses on expanding health savings accounts and lowering drug prices by linking US costs to the lowest prices paid globally. Here’s what the proposal means for patients, insurers, and Congress as healthcare costs rise.

Transcript

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.

Trump takes on Obamacare, unveils ‘Great Healthcare Plan’, promises cash, choice to Americans

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