Trump lays out proposed cost savings in ‘Great Health Care Plan,’ urges Congress to consider

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled his administration’s much-vaunted answer to the Affordable Care Act, outlining a health care plan that he said would slash prescription drug prices and send Americans cash to purchase health insurance.

Though the exact language of the proposal has yet to be made public, the White House announcement is the first look into a health care plan that Trump has for years promised would replace the Obama-era legislation widely reviled by Republicans.

In a video address published Thursday morning, the president touted his “Great Health Care Plan,” claiming that it would make health care more affordable by cutting drug prices, lowering insurance premiums and increasing transparency requirements for insurance companies.

“We’re doing things that nobody’s ever been able to do,” Trump said. “Instead of putting the needs of big corporations and special interests first, our plan finally puts you first and puts more money in your pocket.”

According to information released by the White House, the proposal would codify into law the Trump administration’s so-called “most favored nation” drug-pricing deals with more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies, which were first inked in a May executive order. The plan would also expand the list of drugs Americans can purchase over the counter.

Trump contended that the proposed drug discounts would bring down prices “80%, 90% in come cases — just numbers that nobody’s ever heard of before.”

The president also claimed that prescription drug prices would plummet by as much as 500% via TrumpRx, a direct-to-consumer portal allowing users to purchase medications from pharmaceutical manufacturers.

“Instead of Americans paying the highest drug prices in the world, which we have for decades, we will not be paying the lowest cost paid by any other nation,” Trump said.

The administration’s health care proposal would also halt government subsidies to insurance companies and instead use those funds to send money directly to some Americans via health savings accounts — a gambit Trump said would help people purchase health insurance plans of their choice. The plan would also fund federal cost-sharing reduction programs aimed at reducing monthly insurance premiums for certain people.

Trump contended that the additional cost-sharing funds would cut premiums for people on some existing Affordable Care Act plans by as much as 15%.

The health care proposal would further hike transparency requirements on insurance companies, forcing them to publish comparisons between plan rates and coverage in “plain English” and requiring insurers to release data on claim denials and appeal success rates. The White House says its framework would also require hospitals and insurers that accept Medicare or Medicaid to post their prices, a move Trump said would allow Americans to shop for better deals.

“You’re going to end up doing both, you’re going to get a better deal and better care,” said the president.

So far, the Trump administration has not yet released a more detailed description of its health care plan or language that could appear in future legislation. But the president on Thursday nonetheless urged Congress to act right away to make the proposal law.

“I’m calling on Congress to pass this framework into law without delay,” Trump said. “We have to do it right now so that we can get immediate relief to the American people.”

Since the campaign trail, Trump has promised that he would offer a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, which he has called “lousy” health care legislation and which Republicans have long tried to repeal. The president has, until now, offered very little in the way of concrete policy proposals.

During his September 2024 debate against former Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said his team was “looking at different plans” for replacing Obamacare. Asked whether he had solid health care policy prepared, the now-president infamously replied: “I have concepts of a plan.”

The reveal of the Trump administration’s health care proposal comes as lawmakers remain at an impasse over extensions to Covid-19 era Affordable Care Act subsidies, which expired at the end of the year. Democrats have demanded a three-year extension to the program amid budget talks, but it’s unlikely that Republicans will back such a plan — and it’s unclear whether the subsidies will be revived ahead of the government’s Jan. 30 funding deadline.

The expiring ACA subsidies were a main driver of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history last fall, as Democrats refused to support any short-term spending bill without addressing their extension. But moderate Senate Democrats ultimately backed down after promises from GOP leadership that the upper chamber would vote on the tax credits.

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