Trump unveils brief health plan pushing HSAs and drug-price deals

President Trump on Thursday released his long-awaited health care plan, urging Congress to codify steps his administration has taken to try to lower drug costs and providing what a White House official called "broad direction" to back health savings accounts. The document was posted as a few paragraphs on a webpage and released with a video in which Mr.

Trump called it "the great health care plan." The plan was short on specifics and left much of the work to Congress. It rejects efforts to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act benefits that expired at the end of the year; Mr. Trump briefly considered supporting an extension but has since backed away.

Congress is continuing to consider options for extending the funding, though prospects for passage, the report said, "seem dim," and the enrollment period for insurance concluded today. Senator Lisa Murkowski, part of a group trying to reinstate the subsidies, said talks would continue and "I'm not giving up," while acknowledging any plan would struggle without White House support.

Instead of extending the subsidies, the plan calls for redirecting insurance payments into individual health savings accounts that people could use to purchase health care services directly. Lawmakers have discussed similar proposals with varying details about the magnitude of funding and permitted uses; one such plan failed on the Senate floor last month when Republicans did not have the 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Health Savings Accounts, Trumprx.gov, Affordable Care Act, Lisa Murkowski