Trump reverses Biden’s policies on Obamacare and to lower drug prices

As President Donald Trump’s health agenda for his second term takes shape, it is becoming clear that many policies from the Joe Biden era will not survive.

On Monday, Trump signed a wide-ranging order aimed in part at reversing several Biden Administration executive orders on health care, including efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs for people on Medicare and Medicaid, improving Affordable Care Act and increasing protections for Medicaid enrollees. The so-called initial rescission order, according to the Trump White House, is aimed at Biden policies that it says are “deeply unpopular” and “radical.”

Trump’s actions, experts say, will likely have no consequences for many Americans in terms of what they pay in out-of-pocket health care costs.

A Biden initiative revoked by Trump, for example, had directed Medicare to look for ways to reduce drug costs, including potentially imposing a $2 monthly cap on certain generic drugs.

That measure, however, was only in the development stage, said Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and it was not clear whether it would be implemented at all.

Biden’s most comprehensive health care initiatives, such as a $35 monthly cap on insulin costs, a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket limit on prescription drugs, and the Medicare drug price negotiation provision were not affected by Trump’s executive actions on Monday.

“When administrations change, many of them want to undo some of the actions of other presidents, even when these are more symbolic,” Dusetzina said.

However, Trump’s move indicates that the incoming Administration may be unwilling to move forward with the policies established by its predecessor.

“It could mean that the Trump Administration is not interested in pursuing any of the work that has since developed from these executive orders,” he said.

A change of priorities

Some of Monday’s actions were expected, experts said, including the weakening of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, one of Trump’s main goals during his first term.

trump repealed a policy that had extended the Obamacare enrollment period for another 12 weeks in 36 states, giving uninsured Americans more time to join the plan.

He also rescinded an order aimed at strengthening Medicaid, which included providing more outreach funding to states.

Some of the eliminated policies, however, were aligned with Trump’s previous goals, possibly indicating a shift in his priorities, said Larry Levitt, executive vice president of health policy at KFF, a nonprofit group that researches health issues. public health.

Scrapping Biden’s order to look for new ways to reduce out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs, Levitt explained, could signal that Trump is less serious about addressing the cost of health care in the United States.

“Trump is making a kind of clean slate“If you contrast day one of this Trump administration with the previous one, it’s a different approach to health care.”

Levitt noted that it is still unclear whether the Trump Administration supports Medicare negotiating drug prices, a key provision of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Last week, Medicare announced the next round of prescription drugs up for negotiation, including Ozempic and Wegovy.

“Trump could signal that he wants to continue negotiating drug prices or, alternatively, try to repeal it,” Levitt said. “The Trump Administration has plenty of room to choose to negotiate more aggressively or less aggressively.”

Arthur Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York, said that for now, Trump appears to be proceeding on health care costs “very cautiously,” without touching the Biden’s larger initiatives.

Although Trump has advocated a minimalist approach to government, Caplan believes Trump is aware that the United States pays much higher prices for health care than other countries and that the Government may have to intervene.

Caplan said he hopes Trump keeps the Medicare negotiation initiative alive.

“Right now, it seems to be nibbling around the edges,” Caplan said. “I hope it doesn’t go any further.”