On Thursday, the Trump Administration unveiled its “Great Healthcare Plan”, a comprehensive framework that addresses healthcare affordability, drug pricing, and insurance transparency.
The White House described its plan as an important step towards reform. However, healthcare experts and analysts characterized the document as being lacking in detail, political constrained and unlikely to provide meaningful relief near term.
This framework comes amid increased concern about rising healthcare costs. Especially since enhanced Affordable Care (ACA) subsides expired last year and drove up premiums, deductibles, and soaring health insurance rates for millions of Americans.
The announcement was made on Thursday, the last day for Obamacare open enrollment. This highlights the political significance of the time and the importance of this announcement.
The framework is broad but with few specifics
The White House claims that the Great Healthcare Plan is built on four main pillars. These are: reforms in drug prices, reforms to health insurance, transparency of healthcare cost pricing, and protections against fraud and safeguards.
The administration has highlighted funding for Health Savings Accounts, the transparency requirement for providers and insurers to post publicly prices and calling on Congress to codify price deals that President Trump made with pharmaceutical firms.
Dr. Mehmet Az, Trump’s administrator for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a conference call with reporters, “Instead of just papering over problems, we’ve gotten into this Great Healthcare Plan” a framework we think will help Congress to create legislation that addresses the challenges.
The President echoed this urgency when he released the plan, calling on Congress “to pass this framework without delay” and adding that legislators “have to act right away so we can provide immediate relief for the American people.”
When pressed to provide specifics on the policy, officials from the administration described it as “a broad framework” and offered few details about implementation or legislative paths.
Analysts identify familiar concepts and obstacles
Analysts and experts in policy were highly skeptical.
Spencer Perlman of Veda Partners’ director of Healthcare Research said that in an article by MarketWatch, the plan seems to be designed more for signaling action than delivering results.
He wrote that “we think the White House wants to show it’s doing something’ in terms of affordability and healthcare costs, but the policies have little chance being implemented by this Congress or would only make a small impact even if they were.”
Other people shared the same view.
Kim Monk is a Healthcare Policy Analyst at Capital Alpha Partners. She said, “Their Ideas are Nothing New, Nothing Unexpected, Pretty Difficult to Implement.”
Chris Meekins, Raymond James’ analyst, said that the proposed legislation was “a repetition of positions previously advocated” and added “there are no clear legislative paths forward in many cases.”
Researchers in healthcare policy also warn that this plan fails to address the immediate problem: the rising cost of ACA premiums.
Cynthia Cox said, in a npr article, that the KFF framework was “more like a collection of Republican ideas.” It also “didn’t seem to address the increasing premium payments we are seeing.”
ACA Implications
Silence on the plan regarding the extension of ACA enhanced subsides has heightened concerns about millions facing higher costs or losing coverage.
Edwin Park is a professor of public policy at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. He said that in a Guardian article that the framework was “clearly opposed to extension of expiring ACA Marketplace subsidies,” and warned that “roughly four million people would end up without insurance, while many more millions will have their premiums on the marketplace doubled or increased by more than they already are.”
Some lawmakers are cautiously optimistic about the bipartisan discussions that continue in the Senate.
Experts warn, however, that the Great Healthcare Plan will struggle to gain traction if it does not receive concrete legislative support.
The post Why Analysts aren’t impressed by Trump’s “Great Healthcare Plan” may be updated as new information becomes available.
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