President Donald Trump released his “America First” health care plan listing his administration’s “monumental steps” to make health care more responsive to consumers and reaffirm his commitment to “restoring choice and control to the American patient.”
The executive order, released September 24, lists dozens of actions, mostly through executive order while Congress grapples with issues such as surprise billing, virtual medicine, employer-funded accounts, posted prices, and personal and portable health insurance.
The executive order lists the following reforms:
- Repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate
- Expansion of short-term, limited-duration health care plans
- Expansion of health reimbursement accounts
- Expansion of association health plans
- Expansion of health savings accounts
- Improving access to telehealth
- Waivers giving states more flexibility to lower health care costs
- Giving patients more control over electronic health records
- Reducing paperwork for Medicare providers
- Approving more generic drugs
- Capping insulin and epinephrine prices for Medicare and low-income patients
- Stopping hospitals from overcharging for drugs under Medicare
- Allowing importation of prescription drugs from Canada
- Passing on drug discounts to patients at the counter
- Indexing Medicare drugs to the same prices foreign countries pay
- Repealing the tax on medical devices and health plans
- Requiring hospitals to publish their prices
- Guidance to Congress on how to stop surprise bills
- Prohibiting surprise bills in COVID-19 treatment in exchange for funding
- Creating a system to help consumers identify high-value providers
- Paying physicians equally for Medicare services
- Changing rules to improve policing of waste, fraud, and abuse in health care
- Modernizing care for kidney patients and removing barriers to kidney transplants
- $226 million for research and improved care for AIDS
- Improving payment policies to support rural hospitals
- Expanding Medicare Advantage plan options
- Increasing funding for prevention and treatment of substance disorders
- Giving veterans more private health care options
- Expanding the Whistleblower Protection Act to better monitor veteran care
- Expanding access to flu vaccines
- Expanding research dollars for sickle cell, Alzheimer’s, and pediatric cancer
- Launching “Operation Warp Speed” to manage COVID-19
- Giving the terminally ill the right to try certain treatments
The order states it will be the policy of the U.S. government to expand choice, decrease costs, improve care, and ensure those with preexisting conditions can buy insurance at an affordable price. The document orders the administration to maintain and build on the reforms and allows the Department of Health and Human Services to take action if Congress fails to deal with surprise bills by December 31.
—Staff reports
Internet Info:
Executive Order on an America-First Healthcare Plan, September 24, 2020: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-america-first-healthcare-plan