The election of Donald Trump injected a new uncertainty into an already turbulent period for the healthcare industry. While implications of the election will play out over the next legislative session, it is worth contemplating how potential tectonic shifts in federal policy will impact healthcare providers.
In this white paper, we’ll address three of the Affordable Care Act’s reforms proposed by President-elect Trump during the campaign, all touted to lower healthcare costs:
- Repeal of Obamacare: Trump’s core campaign premise was that “Obamacare is a disaster,” can’t be fixed, and must be repealed and replaced. With that as the starting point, there has already been a shift in stance since the election moderating the absolutist tone of the campaign.
- Allow Sale of Health Insurance Across State Lines: This reform would enable consumers to purchase plans offered in states other than their own and weaken state health insurance oversight on the assumption that doing so would promote competition among plans and lower premiums.
- Changing Medicaid into a Block-Grant Program to the States: This approach to funding Medicaid would give states more flexibility for management of eligibility and benefits. There is little to cut in Medicaid other than coverage, which might actually be viewed as a benefit vs. a bug in terms of block grants.
Stay tuned for future insights as proposed reform evolves. [See part 2 of this white paper here.]