President Donald Trump revealed his long-promised health care plan in a Fox News interview, and said “Call it Trumpcare. Call it whatever you want! Anything but Obamacare!”
Trump has been promising a health care plan — or “concepts of a plan” — for nearly a decade now, but filled in a little bit more detail over the weekend as he attacked Democrats over the government shutdown.
The president gave an interview that aired on Monday night’s edition of Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle, during which he elaborated on the plan — which appears to feature two main differences with Obamacare.
The first is to pay the subsidies directly to consumers instead of to insurers. The second is to name it after himself. But Obamacare consists of a complex set of protections and a competitive marketplace that Trumpcare doesn’t seem to address, and about which Ingraham did not ask:
LAURA INGRAHAM: On Obamacare, you raised several times during this shutdown debate that it’s clear that this was never going to work without these massive subsidies.
Now they wanted to continue the COVID subsidies. So given the fact that Obamacer really can’t survive as they thought without these subsidies. What next?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well I watched Obama from when this thing came about. As you know I opposed it very strongly. Unfortunately we had a couple of negative votes which should never have happened.
But I said it’s going to be a disaster. And I was exactly right. The premiums have gone up like rocket ships. And i’m not just talking about recently I’m talking about for years they’ve been going up.
And he said premiums will go down. Everything will be wonderful. It’s horrible health insurance at a very high price.
And what I want, and probably what you’re alluding to, is the fact that I want — instead of going to the insurance companies, I want the money to go into an account for people where the people buy their own health insurance.
It’s so good! The insurance will be better. It’ll cost less. Everybody’s going to be happy. They’re going to feel like entrepreneurs.
They’re actually able to go out and negotiate their own insurance. And they can use it only for that reason. That’s the beauty — only for the purpose.
And if we did that, that would be so exciting. Call it Trumpcare! Call it whatever you want to call it, but— anything but Obamacare! Obamcare is a disaster, just like he was as a president.
Watch above via Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle.
