Trump Gives Specifics on His Health Care Plan

His 7-point plan is a 'place to start'
By Luke Roney,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2016 7:50 AM CST
Trump Gives Specifics on Health Care
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has released a 7-point health care plan.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Up until now, Donald Trump has mainly said his health care plan would be "something much better" than the Affordable Care Act, CNN reports. On Wednesday, Trump released some specifics about how he would "repeal and replace" ObamaCare in the form of a seven-point plan, which he calls "simply a place to start." CNN notes Trump has previously taken heat for saying "everybody's got to be covered" and "the government's gonna pay for it." His plan, however, "rests more on conservative ideals" and, as NBC News points out, backpedals on his previous support for requiring people to buy insurance. Under point No. 1 ("Completely repeal Obamacare"), he writes, "No person should be required to buy insurance." Further, "if we were to simply enforce the current immigration laws," the US would save $11 billion annually, which he says is the cost of providing health care to people in the country illegally.

Trump calls for "much-needed free market reforms to the healthcare industry," including allowing the sale of insurance across state lines, making insurance premiums tax-deductible for individuals, importing cheaper drugs, and "price transparency" that would allow consumers to shop around for the best price for medical care. Trump also calls for reforming "our mental health programs and institutions." Trump supporters on Twitter praise the plan as an "awesome breakthrough" and "beautiful in its simplicity." But the net effect: "These proposals, including repeal of the [Affordable Care Act], would lead to a significant increase in the number of people uninsured," an exec with a nonpartisan group tells the Hill. (Mitt Romney, meanwhile, is attacking Trump and his "lousy hat.")

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