Speaking with the Washington Post over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump promised that every American will have health insurance under his Obamacare replacement plan, which is set to be introduced in the openings months of his presidency.
Though he didn't provide the Post with many details about his plan, Trump said the plan will provide "less expensive and much better" coverage to Americans that Obamacare has "in a much simplified form."
"We’re going to have insurance for everybody," Trump told the Post. "There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us."
"It’s not going to be their plan," he added of people currently covered under Obamacare. "It’ll be another plan. But they’ll be beautifully covered. I don’t want single-payer. What I do want is to be able to take care of people."
Trump explained that in addition to providing coverage to every American that needs health insurance, another major part of his plan will be to target pharmaceutical companies, especially those with high drug prices.
"They’re politically protected, but not anymore," Trump said of drug companies.
The president-elect also explained that he supports forcing drug companies to negotiate prices directly with the government. And in order to get them to comply, Trump explained that he will use public opinion, most likely via Twitter, just as he did with Lockheed Martin to lower the price of F-35 fighter jets.
However, that plan will likely come with some opposition from Republicans, who traditionally do not support drug price negotiations, arguing that there needs to be less government intervention in the market in order to drive competition up and prices down. Democrats, on the other hand, do support government negotiated drug prices.
In his interview with the Post, Trump also explained that his plan would not cut Medicare benefits added by Obamacare.
Passing health care reform is the first major priority of the incoming Trump administration and Republican-led Congress. In recent weeks, there has been much debate about how the "repeal and replace" will be carried out, but it appears that Republican leadership found a consensus last week after Trump said that he wants a replacement plan to be passed as soon as Congress repeals Obamacare.
But for Trump's plan, he says that it is nearing completion and he plans to unveil it alongside House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) after his Health and Human Services nominee, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), is confirmed in the Senate.
"It's very much formulated down to the final strokes," Trump told the Post. "We haven't put it in quite yet but we're going to be doing it soon."
Trump is also confident that he will get Democrats on-board with his plan, although he was wary to provide any details as to how he would do so.
"I think we will get approval. I won’t tell you how, but we will get approval," Trump said.
