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As the year comes to an end without a solution for the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits, Americans’ health premiums are set to spike as much as 114 percent – but President Donald Trump has signaled that he is ready to intercede on their behalf.
“Obamacare is a disaster, I call it the Unaffordable Care Act…we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year that go to insurance companies,” the president said during a press conference this week. “I want that money to go to the people and let the people buy their own healthcare.”
He continued, “Before I do that, I’ll meet with the insurance companies, just as I met with the drug companies…Nobody would have thought the drug companies were going to do what they did – where they’re giving away free drugs! They’ve been so great.”
President Trump has negotiated a series of deals with pharmaceutical companies that have significantly reduced the cost of many medications, giving Americans access to “Most Favored Nation” pricing.
Just last week, the president inked deals with nine major medication-making companies, lowering key prescription costs by wide margins.
“With respect to the insurance companies, I want to meet; there’s essentially 14 of them…and I want to say, ‘I want you to cut your rates way down, way, way down,’” President Trump said this week. “And maybe, if they do that, we’ll be able to NOT cut them out. We’ll be able to continue to deal with them, which is probably a little easier process.”
“The best process is [to] pay the money directly to the people, let them buy their own healthcare,” he added.
President Trump told the press on Monday that the health insurance companies that he is negotiating with will meet with him (tentatively) in the first week of the new year. He additionally said that he will meet with healthcare insurance companies outside of the “14” core insurers that are on his docket, although it’s unclear who those companies may be.
Last week, Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to pass a comprehensive bill that would either extend the expiring ACA tax credits or mitigate skyrocketing premium prices. Millions of Americans are facing massive monthly premium price hikes on January 1, 2026.