Chairman Smith: A Great Health Care Plan for Patients, Not Special Interests

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after President Trump urged Congress to enact his recently announced The Great Healthcare Plan:

"President Trump's Great Healthcare Plan delivers a bold vision for confronting the real challenges facing American families, workers, and seniors in a health care system designed by Democrats to reward large corporations instead of improving America's health.

"One out of every five dollars in our economy is spent on health care, yet patients find themselves routinely at the mercy of large health companies and special interests, who negotiate access and prices behind closed doors and at the expense of patients seeking needed medical care. Prescription drug prices are increasing, patients are losing access to care with narrowed insurance networks, and taxpayers are forced to spend more of their hard-earned money each year to paper over these dysfunctions.

"President Trump's plan lowers health care costs by expanding access to affordable medications and making drug companies stay true to their word, lowering insurance premiums by ending hidden kickbacks and middleman abuses, and holding big health insurers accountable for their unfair and restrictive practices. The Great Healthcare Plan will put the American people back in charge by ensuring dollars flow directly to patients instead of into the pockets of corporate executives and finally deliver true transparency across the entire health system.

"The Ways and Means Committee will play a central role in advancing these necessary reforms and exercising rigorous oversight to ensure premiums come down, savings reach patients, and health care decisions are made in the open. The Committee stands ready to continue our work with the Administration to make patients - not special interests - the true winners and deliver on this transformative vision."

The Great Healthcare Plan will build on the patient-first policies that the Ways and Means Committee has delivered on to lower health care costs, increase access, and promote transparency:

• The Working Families Tax Cuts put patients in charge of health care decisions by expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to millions of Americans, including those on Obamacare plans, unleashing direct primary care to empower families to spend HSA dollars on care they choose, and ensuring that telehealth visits are covered before patients reach their deductibles to encourage care when and where it is needed. The historic bill also lowered Obamacare premiums by requiring annual enrollment verification, halting Biden-era enrollment abuses, and ending subsidies for illegal immigrants.
• The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act expanded choice and lowered costs for ALL Americans - not just those with high incomes on Obamacare - by strengthening CHOICE Arrangements, which allow employers to contribute tax-free to a plan that their employees choose, and empowering employers to lower drug costs and premiums with middleman transparency.
• The Health Care Price Transparency Act broadened price transparency requirements for patients, allowing them to shop for the lowest price of care, removed incentives for consolidation and big business in health care, and reformed abusive prior authorization requirements imposed by health insurers.
• The Ways and Means Committee advanced multiple reforms to crack down on self-dealing pharmacy middlemen, promote transparency with prescription drug prices, and rein in incentives for harmful gaming and kickbacks.