Trump’s
ACA substitute plan from CNN with this headline and earlier here, too, also
from CNN:
Trump's “health care
vision plan” punts on two major issues
Trump is now touting what he calls his “health care vision
plan.” But, his plan falls far short of a comprehensive proposal and now just six
weeks before the presidential election – apparently he is trying shore up
concerns at a swing state event. Trump apparently is looking to shift attention
away from criticism of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic where now more
than 200,000 Americans have died from the virus over the past six months.
Related
from nearly one-year ago – this GOP “ACA replacement plan.” LOL LOL LOL
– huge flop…
Meanwhile, Joe Biden has already committed to making health
care a focal point of the rest of his campaign.
The executive orders Trump planned to sign Thursday (September
24) largely punts on addressing two major issues facing Americans:
#1: Protecting people with pre-existing conditions. Vice
President Mike Pence told CBS News that Trump's health care plan will
include taking executive action to guarantee Americans with pre-existing
conditions must be covered by health insurance -- even as his administration
works to dismantle those same protections under the Affordable Care Act which
already has that mandate.
His first EO will state that its U.S. policy that people who
suffer from pre-existing conditions will be protected said HHS Secretary Alex
Azar in a call with reporters.
The President and Republican lawmakers have repeatedly said
they will safeguard these Americans, even as they try to tear down the
Affordable Care Act that already protects them. Azar declined to specify how
the administration would guarantee these protections if the Supreme Court
overturns the landmark health reform law in a case it will consider this term.
White
House again promises health care plan roll out in coming weeks
#2: A second executive order will direct Congress to pass
legislation to address surprise medical billing: By the end of the year, and if
lawmakers don't achieve this, Azar said they will seek to do so via another EO,
or regulatory action. Trump already called for an end to the practice in a 2019
speech and in his State of the Union address earlier this year. Though
lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree, legislation has been stymied by
differing views on who should cover the tab -- insurers or providers.
The initial two EO’s are the latest health care-related
actions Trump has taken in recent weeks as he seeks to take back control of the
issue from Biden.
Health care rocketed back into the spotlight again with
the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which
heightens the uncertainty surrounding the ACA back in front of the USSC.
The justices will hear oral arguments on a case seeking to take down the law on
November 10, one week after the election. The Trump administration has asked the court to invalidate Obamacare.
Though the President has repeatedly promised to roll out a
health care proposal, the administration has decided to bill the wide variety
of measures Trump has taken as his vision.
Azar and other administration officials ticked off a long
list, including efforts to broaden less-expensive alternatives to the
Affordable Care Act, to require hospitals to disclose prices they negotiate
with insurers and to improve Americans' kidney health. They emphasized that
Americans insured through Medicare Advantage and Affordable Care Act policies
have seen premiums drop and the choice of plans increase under the President's
watch.
The Affordable Care Act's protections for those with
pre-existing conditions have proved among its most popular provisions.
Democrats' defense of the law helped them capture control of the House in 2018.
The protections include barring insurers from denying
coverage or charging higher premiums to people based on their medical history both
common practices in the individual market prior to Obamacare.
An estimated 54 million Americans, some 27% of non-elderly
adults, have conditions that would have rendered them uninsurable under the old
system (according to the Kaiser Family Foundation research).
The law also requires insurers to provide comprehensive
benefits in the individual market and bans them from imposing annual or lifetime
limits on coverage.
Though the President has
said repeatedly that he will continue these protections, his actions say
otherwise.
The administration is
largely backing a coalition of Republican-led state attorneys general, who say
that Obamacare's individual mandate was rendered unconstitutional when Congress
reduced the penalty for not having insurance to zero in 2017.
As a result, the entire
law must fall, they contend. This case is now before the Supreme Court.
Administration officials also contend that Obamacare doesn't
truly protect those with pre-existing conditions because its premiums and
deductibles are unaffordable. However, Trump's alternative – short-term health plans, which he expanded through an executive
order in 2017 – come with lower monthly premiums in large part because
these policies don't have to adhere to ACA regulations.
Also, Trump’s efforts to continue the protections do little
to help people afford health insurance should Obamacare be declared
unconstitutional by the USSC when they reconvene in early November. The ACA provides
generous subsidies to low and moderate-income Americans to buy policies on the ACA
exchanges and it also supports states that expand Medicaid to low-income
adults. Some 38 states, plus DC, have broadened Medicaid or passed ballot
measures to do so.
Trump has also spoken several problems of “surprise medical
billing,” another big health care concern.
Another big concern is for patients who are often hit
with “surprise medical bills” when they receive emergency
care from an out-of-network provider that they did not choose. Roughly 1-in-6 ER
visits or hospital stays generated at least one out-of-network bill in 2017
(that also according to the Kaiser Family Foundation). Previous efforts to address
the issue in Congress have been bogged down amid a massive lobbying and
advertising blitz by the health care industry. Insurers favor the government
setting a benchmark rate, but hospitals and other providers, often backed by
private equity firms, strongly support resolving the matter through
arbitration.
Another big issue is lowering drug costs. In recent weeks, Trump
has sought to renew attention on his efforts to lower drug prices, one of the
main promises of his campaign and during this his first term. The high cost of
prescription medicine has long been one of Americans' chief health care
complaints.
Trump issued four executive orders since late July that largely recycle
controversial ideas his administration has proposed in the past,
including importing less-expensive medications from Canada and basing the cost
of certain Medicare drugs on their prices in other developed nations.
But his measures, which also included calling out drug
manufacturers on Twitter, have not resulted in lowering drug prices, though the
rate of price growth slowed between 2015 and 2019. Manufacturers hiked prices
on 857 drugs by an average of 6.8% in the first six months of this year, that according
to Good
Rx, which follows several thousand brand name and generic medications.
The administration is also committed to giving consumers
more information about health care prices as a way to control their growth.
Officials issued a historic rule in November requiring hospitals to disclose the prices they privately
negotiate with insurers.
The measure stems from an executive order Trump issued in
the summer of 2019.
A district court judge this summer rejected an attempt by a
coalition of hospital groups to block the rule, though the hospitals have filed
an appeal.
Trump officials have also proposed a separate rule that would
require insurers to provide consumers with estimates of their out-of-pocket
costs for all health care services through an online tool. Some experts,
however, say the rules won't help many consumers because people don't typically
shop for medical services.
My 2 cents and I suspect
for millions of Americans in need, too: This “plan as the image above shows” is
no plan. Nada, nil, none, zero, zip – farce – another Trump con … Wake up,
America, turn out the vote and get this man out of office on November 3. That
will certainly reestablish our greatness over the past 245 years; no the last
nearly 4 years of this nightmare.
Thanks for stopping by.
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