Trump's week in review: Announces 'great healthcare plan,' freezes funding to sanctuary cities

3. Trump unveils his ‘Great Healthcare Plan’

The White House released a video Thursday in which Trump provided details about his proposal for healthcare reform, which he calls the “Great Healthcare Plan.” While offering few concrete specifics, he said that under his plan, “The government is going to pay the money directly to you.” 

“It goes to you and then you take the money and buy your own healthcare,” he added. “My plan would reduce your insurance premiums by stopping government payoffs to big insurance companies and sending that money directly to the people.”

According to Trump, “To further reduce insurance premiums, my plan ends the giant kickbacks to insurance brokers and corporate middlemen that only drive up the costs.” 

While Trump repeatedly denounced the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), he suggested that he was not going to abandon the program entirely as he signaled his intent to implement a “long-neglected part of the law known as the cost-sharing reduction program.” 

“This measure alone should cut premiums on the most popular Obamacare plans,” he said. “It’s hard to believe there are any because it’s a hated program."

An additional aspect of Trump’s plan would require “all insurance companies to publish rate and coverage comparisons in very plain English” as well as “detailed information about how much of your money they’re going to be paying out in claims versus how much they are taking in in profits.” The plan would also require “any hospital or insurer who accepts Medicare or Medicaid to prominently post all prices at their place of business so that you are never surprised and you can easily shop for a better deal or better care.”

The president acknowledged that his plan requires congressional approval, concluding the video by calling on Congress to “pass this framework into law without delay.”