Trump's 'Great Healthcare Plan' may not be so great [View all]

By Lisa Jarvis / Bloomberg Opinion

This month, as Americans who rely on Affordable Care Act plans opened their first bills of 2026 and experienced sticker shock, President Donald Trump began pitching them on an alternative: his “Great Healthcare Plan,” which would shift government support away from subsidizing insurance coverage toward putting money directly into accounts that consumers can use to pay for care.

The details, of course, are scant. But the concept of shifting government funds away from an approach that encourages comprehensive coverage to one that might leave many Americans behind is troubling.

Trump has long criticized the Biden administration-era subsidies that allowed millions of Americans to purchase better coverage at more affordable prices, arguing that they lined the insurers’ pockets while consumers’ costs rose. Although lawmakers are still exploring potential solutions to extend the subsidies, the president has threatened to veto any deal that materializes.

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So far, his plan to replace subsidies with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) — tax-sheltered funds that can be invested and rolled over each year — amounts to little more than a list of bullet points. Among the unknowns are how much money people would receive each year, who would qualify for the help, and whether it would involve changes that expand the utility of HSAs, including whether they could be used to pay for care that falls outside of ACA guidelines (such as plans that can deny coverage based on preexisting conditions or fail to cover certain essential health care benefits).

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-trumps-great-healthcare-plan-may-not-be-so-great/