Donald Trump announced he’ll end Obamacare by sending people the money himself. What he doesn’t mention is that Americans will still need to buy insurance for healthcare. And from the same companies he’s cutting out.
In two Truth Social posts this weekend, Trump declared that “hundreds of billions of dollars” currently sent to “money-sucking insurance companies” for Obamacare should be stopped. Instead, he proposed the money should “go directly to the people” so they can “purchase their own, much better healthcare.” In other words, his plan to reform healthcare is to send people cash so they can buy insurance themselves.
While it all sounds revolutionary on paper, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) already does what Trump claims to have invented. Federal subsidies go directly to individuals, in the form of Advance Premium Tax Credits, reducing the cost of their monthly insurance premiums ( via HHS.gov). But Trump’s version eliminates the system that regulates coverage, pricing, and protections for preexisting conditions. It would only leave Americans with a ridiculous check and a prayer.
Estimates suggest that maintaining ACA subsidies costs about $35 billion a year, covering nearly 24 million people ( via News18). Dividing that up means roughly $1,458 per individual annually, or about $121 a month. Try paying for chemotherapy, insulin, or childbirth with that. And without ACA’s price controls and pooled risk, private insurers would hike rates for sick or older individuals.
To make it worse, Trump never explained how much money exactly he plans to send. The rough annual cost of giving every ACA recipient enough to buy a full policy is $2.7 trillion. That’s $8,000 per family. And without preexisting-condition protections, insurers can simply reject people altogether. Trump’s “direct payments” then look less like reform and more like the world’s most expensive coupon.
Some loyalists are arguing that his post did not suggest buying a new insurance policy with the money. Instead, he plans to help Americans pay for their medical bills with the monthly checks. But given how high medical bills are in the U.S., it’s next to impossible. So people would rather purchase insurance with this money. And who would they have to buy from again? The same insurers he just called “fat cats.”
People online caught the ridiculousness of Trump’s new healthcare “reform” plan immediately. “We’re going to stop paying health insurance companies to pay health insurance companies,” one user summarized his plan. Another asked the obvious question Trump’s ministers should ask him: “You have cancer. Would you rather have $8,000 or insurance?” Users bluntly called out how his plan fixes nothing. “What a joke,” one commented.
If we strip away the all-caps, the plan is nothing more than a voucher system. It would cost more, cover fewer people, and turn healthcare into a one-year cash benefit instead of guaranteed protection. If Trump genuinely wanted to make healthcare cheaper, he could expand ACA subsidies, cap out-of-pocket costs, let Medicare negotiate drug prices, and control hospital monopolies. But that requires governing, which he cannot do since he’s busy partying at his expensive resort every weekend.
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