January 16, 2026
3 min read
Key takeaways:
- The “Great Healthcare Plan” aims to lower drug costs and hold insurance companies accountable.
- Experts said the plan is vague and questioned how it will be implemented.
President Donald J. Trump announced a health care framework that he said will lower drug prices and insurance premiums and hold insurance companies accountable by improving price transparency.
He called on Congress to pass the framework into law “without delay.”
The “Great Healthcare Plan” aims to lower drug costs and hold insurance companies accountable. Image: Adobe Stock
“Instead of putting the needs of big corporations and special interests first, our plan finally puts you first and puts more money in your pocket,” Trump said in a video. “It’s called the ‘Great Healthcare’ because it’s great health care at a lower price.”
What the plan proposes
According to a White House fact sheet, the “Great Healthcare Plan” proposes codifying the “most favored nation” deals that would lower drug prices based on what other countries pay. Trump noted these prices could decrease by 80% to 90%.
The plan would also make more pharmaceutical drugs available for purchase over the counter, lowering health care costs and helping consumers “by strengthening price transparency, increasing competition, and reducing the need for costly and time-consuming doctor’s visits,” the White House said.
The plan also proposes holding insurance companies accountable by instituting a “Plain English” requirement that would necessitate companies to publish rate and coverage comparisons upfront on their websites, and not in “industry jargon.”
Insurance companies would also be required to publish the percentage of their revenues that are paid out to claims vs. overhead costs and profits, as well as the percentage of insurance claims they reject and average wait times for routine care.
“In other words, you will be able to watch the scam,” Trump said.
Under the plan, any health care provider or insurer who accepts Medicare or Medicaid would be required to post their fees and pricing in their place of business, the fact sheet said.
The Great Healthcare Plan rejects “extra taxpayer-funded subsidy payments,” instead sending money “directly to eligible Americans to allow them to buy the health insurance of their choice.”
“The government is going to pay the money directly to you,” Trump said. “It goes to you, and then you take the money and buy your own health care.”
The Senate rejected a similar health care plan backed by Republicans last month. The plan would have created new health savings accounts (HSAs) for consumers to put toward out-of-pocket costs. Critics of the plan said it would not have been enough to cover most consumers’ health care costs.
The Senate also rejected Democrat-based legislation seeking to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. According to a report from nonpartisan health policy research group KFF, the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits — in addition to already rising premiums — is expected to drive up out-of-pocket payments by over 75% on average.
Reactions from experts
Experts questioned certain components of Trump’s new plan, like eligibility and payment.
Cynthia Cox, senior vice president and director of KFF’s Program on the ACA and director of the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, said in a commentary that some of the provisions in the Great Healthcare Plan were already in the ACA.
“For example, the ACA as implemented includes public data on claims denials and insurer overhead, and ‘plain-English’ insurance coverage summaries,” she wrote. “Additionally, the first Trump administration used ACA authority to require hospitals and insurers to reveal prices.”
She also noted that “it’s not entirely clear from the summary exactly what is meant by the proposal to ‘send the money directly to the American people.’”
“Is it only the enhanced premium tax credit dollars that would be converted to a savings account, or are other taxpayer subsidies included in the ‘extra’?” she wrote. “Would the funds be limited to out-of-pocket costs only or be used for premiums?”
The plan does not say if people with pre-existing conditions are protected from higher premiums, and “without knowing more, it is impossible to say what the implications would be” for them, according to Cox.
ACP President Jason M. Goldman, MD, MACP, said the organization “is encouraged” by the administration’s focus on lowering drug prices and increasing price transparency. But he noted that funding for HSAs “is not a substitute for affordable comprehensive insurance coverage provided by ACA-compliant plans that guarantee coverage for recommended preventive services and ensure coverage for patients when they are sick.”
“Increasing funding for HSAs should supplement, not supplant the enhanced premium tax credits for ACA marketplace plans,” he said in a statement.
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