By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump this week elaborated more on how he would deal with health care subsidies and the Affordable Care Act, suggesting an account for people where payments can be made for health-related issues.
The government shutdown that started Oct. 1 and ended Wednesday was, in part, due to a disagreement on how to handle health care subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year.
Over the weekend, Trump wrote in a Nov. 8 post on Truth Social that Senate Republicans should direct hundreds of billions in funding to people’s accounts, away from insurance companies, to purchase their own health insurance.
When asked about that post during a Fox News interview that aired Monday, Trump said that he wants “the money to go into an account for people where the people buy their own health insurance.”
“The insurance will be better. It’ll cost less. Everybody’s going to be happy. They’re going to feel like entrepreneurs,” he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “They’re actually able to go out and negotiate their own insurance. And they can use it only for that reason. That’s the beauty, only for the purpose. And if we did that, that would be so exciting.”
He then added that it could be called “Trumpcare” or “whatever you want to call it.”
Trump also criticized the ACA, known as Obamacare, and said that any health care program that replaces it shouldn’t use the moniker.
“The premiums have gone up like rocket ships. And I’m not just talking about recently, I’m talking about for years they’ve been going up,” the president said, referring to the ACA, which was signed into law in 2010.
Trump signed the government funding bill at an event at the White House on Wednesday, ending a record 43-day shutdown. The signing ceremony came just hours after the House passed the Senate measure on a mostly party-line vote of 222-209.
Democrats wanted to extend an enhanced tax credit expiring at the end of the year that lowers the cost of health coverage obtained through ACA marketplaces. They refused to go along with a short-term spending bill that did not include that priority. Republicans said that was a separate policy fight to be held at another time.
It’s unclear whether the parties will find any common ground on health care before the December vote in the Senate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.
Several Senate Republicans also said they’d favor an extension, including Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
He said in September that if Congress doesn’t act, some premiums will “skyrocket, and not by a little bit. We’re looking at massive increases. People will not be able to afford it.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he thinks Congress should scale back the subsidies for the highest-income people who receive them.
“I think we all know that access to health care is important and we take it very seriously,” he said in September.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz told Fox News on Monday that the White House is working on a new policy to replace the subsidies.
“We have lots of great ideas,” Oz said. “But I don’t want to show our cards. As the president often says, why would I telegraph to you what we’re going to do?”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
