Expanding Health Savings Accounts
- Expanding the use of HSAs has gained favor by mostly Republican lawmakers in the past, and could gain additional steam under Trump’s presidency.
- Sixty-two percent of employers already offer HSAs and 21% are considering offering one.
- Likely to have a positive effect on payers, and a negative effect on providers and pharmaceutical and life science companies.
Provider transparency
- Trump has advocated for more open and transparent provider pricing, saying that people should be able to shop for procedures and exams based on price.
- Likely to have a positive effect on payers, but a negative effect on providers and pharmaceutical and life science companies.
Selling insurance across state lines
- Trump advocates cross state sales as a way to lessen regulatory hurdles, which he argues could lower the cost of coverage for consumers and decrease administrative burden for payers.
- Selling insurance across state lines would require broad provider networks to be established by insurers and providers.
- Likely to have a neutral effect on payers, providers and pharmaceutical and life science companies.
Block grants for Medicaid
- Trump has advocated turning Medicaid into a block-grants program. A similar proposal in 2015 by House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price found that it would reduce federal funding by $913 billion over 10 years.
- The idea could mean the loss of coverage for some people, a reduction in Medicaid benefit coverage, or both.
- Likely to have a negative effect on providers and pharmaceutical companies and life science companies, but a neutral effect on insurers.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act
- Trump has promised to immediately repeal the ACA. Repealing the ACA would be a major change to the current healthcare system, which has spent much of the past six years implementing its many moving parts.
- Trump and Republicans in Congress have several tools they can use to dismantle the law, including the use of reconciliation and the appropriations process, where Congress may be able cut spending to ACA programs.
- The number of uninsured is expected to grow if the ACA is repealed. Trump’s challenge will be to lower that number through his replacement proposals.
- Likely to have a negative effect on payers and providers, but a positive effect on pharmaceutical and life science companies.
