The proposal is built on the premise that healthcare policy has increasingly favored bureaucracies and middlemen over patients during the past two decades. This shift has contributed to rising costs and made it more difficult for Americans to understand how their healthcare spending is allocated.
Healthcare spending is a central focus of the proposal. American families are expected to spend more than $37,000 on private healthcare this year, while the average family covered through Obamacare will spend about $27,000. Healthcare spending in the United States reaches nearly $16,000 per person, amounting to roughly $5 trillion across the economy.
Proposal Argues Insurance Has Expanded Beyond Its Original Purpose
The proposal contends that health insurance was designed to protect individuals against catastrophic financial losses but is now commonly used to pay for routine medical services and generic prescription drugs.
To illustrate that argument, it describes a healthy patient with what it calls very good insurance. According to Newsweek, the patient pays $200 each month in personal premiums, excluding employer contributions, and must meet a $1,600 deductible before insurance coverage begins. Although the patient believes a dermatologist visit costs $140, the proposal states that financing that visit through insurance results in a total cost of $2,640.
A similar comparison is made for prescription drugs, stating that a medication may cost $20 before a deductible is met, $10 after the deductible, or $3 when purchased with cash instead of using insurance. Based on those examples, the proposal argues that insurance has become an expensive discount card for routine healthcare purchases.
Prescription Drug Measures and Insurance Changes
Prescription drug policy is another major element of the plan. The proposal says it would end what it describes as global freeloading while giving patients greater control over prescription purchases through a program called TrumpRx.
Millions of Americans are already using TrumpRx to reduce prescription costs by selecting medications that work for them rather than for intermediaries. The proposal also calls for ending kickbacks that pharmacy benefit managers pay to brokers, arguing that those payments encourage brokers to place their own interests ahead of those of patients.
The proposal would also direct taxpayer dollars to eligible Americans so they can purchase the health insurance coverage they want. In addition, it includes funding for a cost-sharing reduction program. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the program would save taxpayers at least $36 billion while reducing the most common Obamacare premiums by more than 10 percent.
Price Transparency Presented as a Key Reform
The proposal also places a strong emphasis on healthcare price transparency. Physicians who participate in Medicare or Medicaid would be required to post the prices of their services.
Medical debt increasingly stems from routine office visits because patients often do not know the cost of treatment beforehand. Publishing prices would allow patients to plan for medical expenses, establish budgets and compare costs before receiving care.
The proposal concludes by stating that patients, rather than middlemen, brokers or government bureaucracies, should be the primary customers of the healthcare system. It argues that healthcare dollars should remain under the control of the people who earn them and that families should be able to choose the healthcare options that best suit their needs.
