It envisions a really different future, one where government-run health care shrinks — and public programs become more difficult to sign up for.
Democratic presidential candidates have spent years building a new vision of American policy, one where a lot more of us get our health insurance from the government.
I see President Trump’s newly released budget as his counterproposal to all that. It envisions a really different future, one where government-run health care shrinks — and public programs become more difficult to sign up for.
Here are some key health policy features of the Trump budget (you can read the full thing here):
Higher copayments, work requirements, no more zero-premium Obamacare plans — take it all together and you create a health care system where it’s significantly harder and more expensive to go to the doctor.
There are some benefits to this type of health care system, no doubt. When fewer people get public coverage — and those remaining people go to the doctor less because their copays are higher — then the government spends less money on health care. So if your biggest goal is reducing the deficit, this plan would check that box.
