Washington Examiner
· collected 2026-10-12 · by John C. Goodman
Polls show that healthcare is high on the list of voter concerns.
asserted
healthcare → show → concerns
Right now, that’s bad news for Republicans.
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that → ’ → Republicans
Democrats are running ads accusing Republicans of cutting Biden-era subsidies for prescription drugs for the elderly and disabled on Medicare and cutting Biden-era subsidies for people who buy their own health insurance coverage.
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who → run → coverage
It consists of four Trump administration ideas.
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It → consist → ideas
Unfortunately, the administration has done little to explain the ideas, and most Republican candidates are ignoring the subject altogether.
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candidates → do → subject
President Donald Trump’s most important proposal is to let people who buy their own health insurance choose plans tailored to their needs.
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who → let → needs
Yet the White House post that advances this idea gives us none of the details that candidates and voters are going to need to understand it.
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candidates → advance → it
KFF says most families could cut their premiums in half by buying the kind of insurance that used to be commonplace.
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that → say → insurance
If they do that, how much help should they get from the government?
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they → do → government
Well, if they choose coverage that is less comprehensive than exchange plans are required to be, a reasonable subsidy might be equal to, say, 75% or 80% of the subsidy they would have received if they had enrolled in an exchange plan.
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they → choose → plan
Families would gain because the premiums are lower, and taxpayers would gain because the subsidies are smaller.
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subsidies → gain → ?
What about the Democrats’ charge that people will choose “junk insurance”?
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people → choose → insurance
People might fail to insure for a problem they didn’t anticipate — alcohol or drug abuse, for example — only to later discover that they made a mistake.
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they → fail → mistake
This is the kind of benefit the (Obamacare) exchange plans are required to cover.
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plans → require → benefit
The answer: If such a problem arises, people should immediately be able to switch to a benchmark silver plan in an exchange.
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people → arise → exchange
Obamacare exchange insurance doesn’t go away.
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insurance → go → ?
For the rare cases where it might be needed, the exchange would be there as backup insurance.
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exchange → need → insurance
Trump’s second-best idea is to give government subsidies to people instead of to insurance companies.
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idea → give → companies
Again, we need details that are not there so far.
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that → need → details
But here is a suggestion: Health plans should be free to offer their enrollees a deposit into a Health Savings Account in return for their willingness to manage an area of care themselves, such as preventive care, primary care, chronic care management, etc.
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plans → offer → care
It sees the homebound disabled given a budget to manage, including the right to hire and fire the people delivering services to them.
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disabled → see → them
Consistent with Trump’s previous policy initiatives, people should have the option to use their HSA funds to make monthly payments to direct primary care doctors who provide 24/7 primary care, including communication at night and on weekends.
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who → have → weekends
At Atlas MD in Wichita, Kansas, which pioneered the model for this practice, the monthly fee for all primary care is $50 for a mother and $10 for a child.
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fee → pioneer → child
For people who are admitted to a hospital or who need expensive drugs, the current out-of-pocket exposure is $10,600 for an individual and double that for a family, according to healthcare.gov.
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exposure → admit → healthcare.gov
Next year, the potential exposure will jump to $12,000 and twice that for a family.
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exposure → jump → family
A third Trump idea is incorporated in an administration rule that has been largely ignored by the legacy media.
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that → incorporate → media
One of the worst features of the marketplace exchange plans is their narrow networks, which often exclude some of the best doctors and the best medical centers.
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which → exclude → doctors
The new rule will allow non-network plans, which pay fixed prices for various procedures and allow enrollees to see any provider.
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enrollees → allow → provider
The resulting price competition has been shown to save significant amounts of money.
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competition → result → money
A fourth idea would give patients access to cheaper drugs.
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idea → give → drugs
Although the administration often talks about a “most favored nation” approach, a more appealing initiative is TrumpRX, one of the most impactful things Trump has done on healthcare.
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Trump → talk → healthcare
This website shows the “cash price” of drugs, which are often one-half, one-third, or even one-fourth of the list price.
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which → show → price
Patients can buy at these prices on sites such as Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs.
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Patients → buy → Drugs
But they cannot be purchased by employer plans or by commercial health insurance.
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they → purchase → insurance
The Republican message should be: let everyone have access to the cash price.
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everyone → let → price
Congressional legislation could make this happen.
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this → make → ?
Instead of pouring more money into failing, highly defective programs (the Democrats’ approach), the Trump approach would empower patients, free the marketplace, and encourage price and quality competition.
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approach → pour → competition
But first, the Republicans have to start talking about it.
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Republicans → have → it
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