Like President Donald Trump The health care agenda for a second term is taking shapeIt has become clear that many of the policies of the Joe Biden era will not work.
Monday Trump I signed a blanket order It is intended in part to reverse several of the Biden administration’s executive orders on health care, including efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs for people on Medicare and Medicaid, and promote… Affordable Care Act and increased protections for Medicaid enrollees. The so-called preliminary rescission order, according to the Trump White House, targets Biden’s policies that it says are “deeply unpopular” and “radical.”
Experts say Trump’s moves are likely to be insignificant to many Americans in terms of what they pay for out-of-pocket health care costs.
For example, one Biden effort that Trump scuttled had directed Medicare to consider ways to lower drug costs, including whether to impose a $2-a-month cap on some generic drugs.
This initiative was only in the development stage, and it was not clear whether it would ever be implemented, said Stacey Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Biden Greater healthcare initiativessuch as a cap of $35 per month for insulin, a $2000 annually–to–Pocket cover holds prescription medications The Medicare drug pricing negotiation provision was not affected by Trump’s executive actions on Monday.
“When administrations change, many of them want to undo some of the actions of other presidents, even when those actions are more symbolic,” Dusetzina said.
However, she said Trump’s move suggests the incoming administration may be unwilling to move forward with any policies put in place by its predecessor.
“It may mean that the Trump administration is not interested in pursuing any of the actions that have since developed through these executive orders,” she said.
Change in priorities
Experts say some of the measures taken on Monday were expected, including… Weaken the Affordable Care Actalso known as Obamacare, was a primary goal during Trump’s first term.
Trump rescinded a policy that extended Obamacare’s open enrollment period for an additional 12 weeks in 36 states, giving uninsured adults more time to sign up.
He also rescinded an order intended to strengthen Medicaid, which included providing more outreach funding to states.
However, some of the policies being rescinded were previously consistent with Trump’s goals, which may indicate a change in his priorities, said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a nonprofit group that researches health policy issues.
Leavitt said abandoning Biden’s order to consider new ways to directly cut spending on prescription drugs may indicate that Trump is less serious about addressing the cost of health care in the United States.
He added: “Trump is wiping a new page.” “If you compare the first day of the Trump administration with the last administration, there is a different approach to health care.”
Levitt said it remains unclear whether the Trump administration supports negotiating drug prices for Medicare, a key provision of Biden’s inflation-reducing law. Last week, Medicare Announced the next round of prescription drug negotiationsincluding Ozempic and Wegovy.
“Trump could signal his desire to continue negotiations on drug prices, or alternatively, try to cancel them,” Levitt said. “The Trump administration has a great deal of leeway to choose to negotiate more aggressively or less aggressively.”
For now, Trump appears to be treating health care costs “very cautiously,” leaving Biden’s larger initiatives alone, said Arthur Caplan, chair of the department of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City.
Although Trump has called for a minimalist approach to government, Kaplan said Trump recognizes that the United States pays much higher prices for care than other countries and that the government may need to intervene.
Kaplan said he hopes Trump will leave the Medicare negotiation clause in place.
“Right now, it seems like he’s nibbling at the edges,” Kaplan said. “But I hope it doesn’t go any further.”
