Initial Insights on “The Great Healthcare Plan”
Yesterday, President Trump released a new framework that lays out elements of a “Great Healthcare Plan.” Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s President and CEO, shared initial thoughts:
“We have been trying to analyze the Trump health “plan” but I worry that unless Congress puts something real together we are analyzing air. Big Q’s such as are pre-x protected are impossible to answer from their Fact Sheet. What we do know: it partly captured a news cycle.”
“It looks like Trump’s “buy your own insurance“ plan would largely do away with pre-x protections and the Marketplaces, but not insurance companies he doesn’t like who would still provide most of the coverage.”
Altman also wrote recently a column about President Trump’s “art of the health care deal,” including the deals with drug companies that President Trump is now proposing to codify.
More insights from KFF experts on the “Great Healthcare Plan” include:
Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President for Health Policy:
“President Trump’s ‘Great Healthcare Plan’ includes some ideas with bipartisan support, like more price transparency and regulating pharmacy benefit managers. But, they’re wrapped in partisan proposals that would undermine the ACA.”
Cynthia Cox, Senior Vice President, Director of the Program on the ACA:
“Until the ‘Great Healthcare Plan’ takes shape and details are filled in, it leaves open questions about out-of-pocket costs, premiums, federal spending, and health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.”
Read more on kff.org. →
Juliette Cubanski, Deputy Director, Program on Medicare Policy:
“While codifying most-favored-nation drug pricing could be helpful for bringing more transparency to these arrangements and guaranteeing that drug companies will deliver on what they’ve promised, policymakers would need substantially more information to turn these backroom voluntary deals into law.”
Read more on kff.org. →
Higher Premium Payments or Higher Deductibles: The Tradeoffs ACA Enrollees Face
Some Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace enrollees are choosing between plans that charge higher premium payments and plans with higher deductibles. Many enrollees are considering these tradeoffs following the expiration of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits at the end of 2025, according to a new Health System Tracker analysis.
Potential Implications of the New Medicaid Data Sharing Agreement Between CMS and ICE
This issue brief provides an overview of a new data sharing agreement for CMS to share Medicaid data with ICE and its potential implications for health care access and data privacy.
Millions of Americans Are Expected To Drop Their Affordable Care Act Plans. They’re Looking for a Plan B.
An estimated 4.8 million people are expected to go without health coverage because Congress did not extend enhanced subsidies for ACA plans. But even without a health plan, people will need medical care in 2026. Many of them have been thinking through their plan B to maintain their health.
GOP Cuts Will Cripple Medicaid Enrollment, Warns CEO of Largest Public Health Plan
Martha Santana-Chin, a daughter of Mexican immigrants, last year took the helm of L.A. Care, the nation’s largest publicly operated health plan. She warns that looming federal cuts will push up to 650,000 people off L.A. Care’s Medicaid rolls by the end of 2028.
Question of the Week
Last week, 65% correctly answered that 26% of parents thought the CDC recommended “too many” childhood vaccines.
In 2025, what percentage of Marketplace enrollees chose a silver plan?
See how many readers answered correctly in the next edition of This Week.
Health News
States Race To Launch Rural Health Transformation Plans
Kaiser Permanente To Pay $556 Million in Record Medicare Advantage Fraud Settlement
RFK Jr.’s MAHA Movement Has Picked Up Steam in Statehouses. Here’s What To Expect in 2026.
How Is Your County Spending Opioid Settlement Cash? Our Tracking Tool Follows the Money.
As Insurance Prices Rise, Families Puzzle Over Options
What the Health? From KFF Health News: Culture Wars Take Center Stage
‘Abortion as Homicide’ Debate in South Carolina Exposes GOP Rift as States Weigh New Restrictions
Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew
More on Health Policy
Quick Take: ACA Signups Are Down, But Still an Incomplete Picture
KFF Tracker: America First MOU Bilateral Global Health Agreements
The America First Global Health Strategy and Pooled Procurement
Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe to This Week.
This email was sent to joycesilver621@gmail.com. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive.