Statement from the Paragon Health Institute on The Great Healthcare Plan

 The Great Healthcare Plan, released by President Trump today, is a forward-looking blueprint that builds on the president’s first-term successes as well as shows his commitment to making health care more affordable, more accessible, and more patient-centered. It addresses critical pain points in our broken system by prioritizing consumers and patients over entrenched interests in Washington, increasing choice, competition, and transparency.

The president’s plan would lower prescription drug prices by codifying Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) deals. These prospective agreements would align U.S. prices with those in other countries, reducing costs for Americans while preserving incentives for pharmaceutical research and development.

The price transparency initiatives and efforts to expand over-the-counter (OTC) medicines are also promising. Moving drugs to OTC status when appropriate will lower costs for consumers, increase ease of access, and reduce unnecessary physician visits—eliminating unnecessary patient expenses and freeing up resources for more critical care.

The president takes a firm line against sending additional taxpayer money to health insurance companies. Empowering patients rather than insurers is vital to reorient the system to meet patient needs instead of boosting insurer profits and the power of the medical-industrial complex. Appropriating the Cost-Sharing Reduction Program in the Affordable Care Act would lower premiums by more 10 percent and reduce market distortions. Paragon’s HSA option remains the best-developed policy for efficiently redirecting subsidies from insurers to patients, and we encourage its integration.

To further strengthen the plan, the administration should advance more flexible and affordable insurance options, building on first-term rules that expanded association health plans, state-regulated short-term plans, and individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements.

Finally, as the nation has grown increasingly aware from stories from Minnesota, California, and other states, our government health care programs are plagued by deep, pervasive, and costly fraud.  We urge policymakers to build on the program-integrity measures in the One Big Beautiful Bill to further combat waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs. This will protect taxpayer dollars from grifters and fraudsters, help mitigate a major factor driving up health care spending, and protect taxpayer resources for eligible Americans.

Overall, the plan offers practical, pro-patient reforms that will deliver meaningful relief and move the nation in the right direction to positively transform our ailing health care system. We look forward to collaborating with the administration and Congress to refine and advance these reforms to help both American patients and American taxpayers.

https://paragoninstitute.org/news/statement-from-the-paragon-health-institute-on-the-great-healthcare-plan/