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Trump Has No Health Plan, He Has the Art of the Health Care Deal

Trump Has No Health Plan, He Has the Art of the Health Care Deal

KFF CEO Dr. Drew Altman analyzes President Trump’s “make a deal” approach to health care. He explains that while the president doesn’t have a health reform plan, or even “concepts of a plan,” or a replacement for the ACA, he does have a distinctive set of tactics that features one-off deals with the health care industry that are more like “health policy by transaction.” He writes that the deals “even do some good,” but “don’t change the long-term incentives of health care companies that participate in the deals,” and a big question is “whether they have staying power.”

Affordable Care Act

Updated Larry QT on ePTCs

There is No Drop-Dead Date for an ACA Tax Credit Extension, But Coverage Losses Will Mount as the Clock Ticks

While the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, there is no absolute drop-dead date for extending them. An extension could happen even after the deadline to sign up for coverage and be made retroactive to January 1. Open enrollment could also be extended to allow people time to change their plans or allow new people to sign up. ACA enrollees would welcome premium relief whenever it comes, explains KFF's Larry Levitt.

Policy Changes Bring Renewed Focus on High-Deductible Health Plans 

Policy changes, anticipated increases in premium costs for enrollees, and new standards for health savings accounts may encourage consumers to seek out plans with lower premiums but higher deductibles. This issue brief explores the features of bronze and catastrophic plans, coverage and costs, and the complicated choices consumers face.

health system tracker
KEY RESOURCES

  • Health Policy 101: Costs and Affordability

    This Health Policy 101 chapter explores trends in health care costs in the U.S. and the factors that contribute to this spending. It also examines how health care spending varies and the impact on affordability and people's overall financial vulnerability.  


  • Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

    This data note reviews our recent polling data that finds that Americans struggle to afford many aspects of health care, including disproportionate shares of uninsured adults, Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower incomes.

  • National Health Spending Explorer

    This interactive Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker tool allows users to examine five decades worth of data on health expenditures by federal and local governments, private insurers, and individuals.

  • Polling on Prescription Drugs and Their Prices

    This chart collection draws on recent KFF poll findings to provide an in-depth look at the public’s attitudes toward prescription drugs and their prices. Results include Americans’ opinions on drug affordability, pharmaceutical companies, and various potential measures that could lower prices.

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  • Visualizing Health Policy: Recent Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance

    Other

    This Visualizing Health Policy infographic takes a look at recent trends in employer-sponsored insurance, including average premium increases for workers with family coverage, the average yearly cost of premiums for single and family coverage and how those costs have increased in the past decade, along with the prevalence of health promotion programs (such as wellness…

  • Low-Wage Workers Feel the Pinch on Health Insurance

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explores how low-wage firms and their workers are faring in the employer-based health insurance market and how the Affordable Care Act may influence future trends.

  • Americans’ Health Priorities Diverge From Washington’s Focus on Obamacare

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman finds the public’s healthcare priorities have more to do with drug costs and other real world issues people deal with using the health care system than the ongoing partisan wrangling over the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

  • Harvard and Growth in Health Care Cost Sharing

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explains why recent discussion of Harvard University’s introduction of new health insurance cost sharing measures amounted to “making a mountain out of a mole hill”.

  • Medicare Spending Peaks at Age 96  

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses the implications of a Kaiser finding: per capita Medicare spending peaks at age 96, and the main reason is not end-of-life care. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.

  • Health Care Costs: What You Need To Know

    Event Date:
    Event

    On Wednesday, April 1, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Alliance for Health Reform presented a briefing to explore the trends in health care costs in both the public and private sectors.