President Trump has released his new plan for health policy, called “The Great Healthcare Plan.” The plan calls on Congress to pass legislation on key priority areas like prescription drug prices, cost-sharing reduction programs, price transparency and claims rejection. While the President’s official announcement and plan don’t have many details yet, they give us an idea of the President’s current health care priorities. Keep reading for what we know so far.  

The plan aims to achieve the following objectives:  

  • Slash Prescription Drug Prices: Lower prescription drug prices for all Americans by codifying the Trump Administration’s Most-Favored-Nation deals to get Americans the same low prices for prescription drugs that people in other countries pay. Voluntarily negotiated deals with HHS and/or CMS would be grandfathered in.  
  • Allow More Over-the-Counter Medicines: Make more verified safe pharmaceutical drugs available for over-the-counter purchase.  
  • Send the Money Directly to the American People: Stop sending big insurance companies “billions in extra taxpayer-funded subsidy payments” and instead send that money directly to eligible Americans through Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), allowing them to buy the health insurance of their choice. Note that this policy would require Congress to make statutory changes, as HSA funding under current law cannot be used to pay for premiums.  
  • Fund Cost-Sharing Reduction Program: Fund a cost-sharing reduction program for healthcare plans which would save taxpayers at least $36 billion and reduce the most common ACA plan premiums by over 10%.  
  • Cut Kickback Costs: End kickbacks from pharmacy benefit managers to the large brokerage middlemen that deceptively raise the cost of health insurance.  
  • Create the “Plain-English Insurance” Standard: Require health insurance companies to publish rate and coverage comparisons upfront on their websites in plain English—not industry jargon—so consumers can make better insurance purchasing decisions. 
  • Publish Costs of Overhead vs. Claim Payments: Require health insurance companies to publish the percentage of their revenues that are paid out to claims versus overhead costs and profits on their websites. 
  • Display Claim Denial Rates: Require health insurers publish the percentage of insurance claims they reject and the average wait times for routine care on their websites.  
  • Post Prices on the Wall: Require any health care provider or insurer who accepts either Medicare or Medicaid to “publicly and prominently” post their pricing and fees. We are waiting for more details on this policy. For example, a consumer’s out-of-pocket costs vary based on their insurance, making it very difficult to post all prices on a wall. This policy could refer to the Chargemaster or facility fees. The term “pricing” would need to be better defined.