January 17th, 2026 – This week, the White House released The Great Healthcare Plan. It’s a brief outline of nine policy ideas grouped into four themes and it arrives at an interesting moment, as Congress is simultaneously advancing a healthcare-related bill that has already drawn the possibility of a presidential veto.
The document itself is not legislation, but simply outlines a framework describing what the administration would like to see included in future healthcare reforms.
The nine ideas fall into four broad categories.
1. Lower Prescription Drug Prices – This section focuses on reducing drug costs through pricing pressure and access, including:
- Expanding “most-favored-nation” pricing concepts
- Building on prior efforts to reduce insulin costs
- Allowing more medications to be sold over the counter
2. Lower Insurance Premiums – The outline proposes:
- Redirecting certain federal subsidy dollars directly to individuals, rather than insurers
- Funding a Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) program to help lower premiums on benchmark marketplace plans
- While CSR’s are mentioned, the document does not clarify how this would interact with existing ACA subsidy structures.
3. Hold Insurance Companies Accountable – This section emphasizes insurer and intermediary transparency, including:
- Ending certain pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) kickbacks
- Requiring insurers to disclose overhead versus claims payments
- Publishing claim denial rates and average wait times
- These ideas focus on disclosure and accountability rather than coverage expansion or contraction.
4. Maximize Price Transparency – Proposals include:
- Requiring “plain-English” insurance comparisons
- Public posting of prices by providers and insurers that accept Medicare or Medicaid
- Transparency is a consistent theme, though enforcement details are not specified.
The Great Healthcare Plan document is a policy outline, not a bill. The new policy outline does not amend the House bill, does not change current ACA rules and does not create immediate changes to premiums, subsidies, or plan availability.
At the same time this outline was released, Congress is advancing a separate healthcare bill that is expected to move to the Senate. Earlier this week, President Trump indicated he may veto that bill in its current form, so it’s possible the President may wish Congress to amend and/or draft and pass legislation aligned with the The Great Healthcare Plan’s ideas.
