Quick News: Trump's Healthcare Plan

On September 24, the Trump Administration announced its official "America First" healthcare agenda which included discount cards to Medicare beneficiaries and two non-binding executive orders. 

The official page on the White House website seems to include both the above new provisions as well as other policies Trump had previously instituted. These policies had not been previously announced as part of any cohesive healthcare plan.

The Medicare discount cards will cover $200 of prescription drug costs-- although this money is set to come from money saved through Trump's "Most Favored Nation Drug Pricing Proposal", which will not be available until after the election.

The first non-binding executive order is a promise to protect healthcare coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. People with pre-existing conditions are already protected by law under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This executive order is not legally binding nor is it new policy. 

The second non-binding executive order is to direct Alex M. Azar--Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)--to work with congress to ban surprise out-of-network bills. If such an agreement is not reached by January 1, the executive order requires non-specific action at the executive level. Without defining what such an action will be (likely because the executive lacks the legal power to ban these surprise bills outright) the executive order amounts to a promise without teeth.

Ultimately, two loose promises and discount cards which lack immediate funding do not constitute a cohesive healthcare plan. Trump is attempting to close the electoral gap on healthcare-- going so far as to claim the Republicans will be known as "the party of healthcare".

If Trump wants to seriously challenge the detailed healthcare policy of the Biden campaign, he will have to propose more than shallow executive orders. Unfortunately, Trump has failed to work cohesively with Republicans on an alternative to the ACA and is very quickly running out of time to do so.

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