Dive Brief:
- Donald Trump’s proposed health plan would cost the government nearly $500 billion over 10 years, while adding nearly 21 million people to the ranks of uninsured, according to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).
- The plan’s cornerstone is the complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act, coupled with deregulation of the insurance industry and tax breaks to help people get coverage, The Los Angeles Times reported.
- Trump’s plan also calls for making Medicaid a block-grant program.
Dive Insight:
By completely repealing Obamacare, Trump intends to also repeal all subsequent ACA “regulations, subsidies, Medicaid expansion, Medicare savings, and tax increases,” the report says. His replacement policies would only cover 5% of those who lost coverage following repeal.
The proposal to block grant Medicaid could see significant savings, depending on how it’s designed. However, Trump hasn’t provided information yet on the size of those grants, according to the report. The CRFB asked Trump to outline additional policies to pay for his plan.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders’ proposed all-payer system could have unintended consequences, since the insurance industry accounts for about one-fifth of the national economy, The Washington Post reported. Socializing healthcare could dampen economic growth and cause hundreds of thousands of people in the industry to lose their jobs, experts say.
Sanders has yet to offer details on how his plan would look.