Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Pledges His Health Care Plan Will Provide 'Much Better' Insurance For 'Everyone'
President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Obama鈥檚 signature health-care law with the goal of 鈥渋nsurance for everybody,鈥 while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid. (Costa and Goldstein, 1/15)
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have insurance for everybody,鈥 Mr. Trump said. 鈥淭here was a philosophy in some circles that if you can鈥檛 pay for it, you don鈥檛 get it. That鈥檚 not going to happen with us.鈥 In the interview, Mr. Trump provided no details about how his plan would work or what it would cost. He spoke in the same generalities that he used to describe his health care goals during the campaign 鈥 that it would be 鈥済reat health care鈥 that left people 鈥渂eautifully covered.鈥 (Shear, 1/15)
Trump did not share specifics on how he would accomplish what sounds like universal healthcare and whether is concerned that the idea would put him at odds with members of his party. (1/16)
A spokesman for Donald Trump sought Monday to elaborate on the president-elect鈥檚 plans to replace the Affordable Care Act, vowing that the new administration would lower health-care costs by infusing more competition into the marketplace, including by allowing聽insurers to sell health plans across state lines. (Wagner, 1/16)
Trump said he鈥檒l push Congress to act fast on the repeal. 鈥淭he Congress can鈥檛 get cold feet because the people will not let that happen,鈥 Trump said. And his replacement plan is 鈥渧ery much formulated down to the final strokes.鈥 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 put it in quite yet but we鈥檙e going to be doing it soon,鈥 Trump said, adding that he鈥檚 waiting for Health and Human Services nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) to be confirmed. (Master, 1/15)
The news left many California health care experts perplexed. 鈥淚鈥檝e yet to see the unicorn Trump promised, and I doubt it exists, but I would be overjoyed to welcome it to America,鈥 said Jill Horwitz, a law professor and health policy expert at UCLA. She defined the unicorn 鈥 according to what Trump has suggested he鈥檇 like to see 鈥 as universal coverage, low deductibles, insurance for those with pre-existing conditions, and no mandates, among other hints. (Seipel, 1/16)
Donald Trump and his pick to lead the Obamacare repeal effort, Rep. Tom Price, share a vision that the current health care system needs to be completely uprooted. But the two men have articulated wildly divergent visions for what comes next 鈥 and that's making it hard for Hill Republicans to figure out where to start on a coherent replacement plan once Obamacare is gone. (Everett and Haberkorn, 1/16)
In other news聽鈥
When President-elect Donald Trump summoned a small group of national health care executives to his Florida home in December, the group included a less familiar name: Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, a primary care physician who is a prominent figure in Palm Beach. Moskowitz told STAT that he knows Trump through the Palm Beach community and that he helped put together the group that met with the president-elect, which included the heads of the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Mayo Clinic, and Partners HealthCare. (Swetlitz, 1/16)