Donald Trump over the weekend was met with ridicule after he unleashed a major plan that he said will provide a multibillion dollar payout directly to Americans as an alternative to funding government health care subsidies that have divided lawmakers amid the ongoing government shutdown.
“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
But the plan didn't go over well with some experts, including economist Justin Wolfers, who chimed in with, "Econ 101 midterm question: Based on what you know about risk pools and adverse selection in healthcare markets, will giving people money instead of giving them money to buy health insurance lead these markets to function more effectively, or will it just lead more people to be uninsured?"
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said, "This is, unsurprisingly, nonsensical."
"Is he suggesting eliminating health insurance and giving people a few thousand dollars instead?" the senator then asked. "And then when they get a cancer diagnosis they just go bankrupt? He is so unserious. That's why we are shut down and Americans know it."
Combat veteran Matthew Spira added, "Because Americans themselves have shown they do such an excellent job at choosing the optimized Medicare Advantage plans for themselves, and do not get fleeced by companies into bloated profit-optimized packages for the companies."
"And do a wonderful job of investing for themselves," he wrote on X. "Which is why the financial advisor industry is just withering away."
Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of Campaign for New York Health, also weighed in:
"The average cost of giving birth without insurance is $18,865. The average cancer patient will spend at least $150k. Trump’s approach would bankrupt and kill even more Americans when they can’t afford care. Our taxes should be funding universal healthcare with Medicare for All."
She added that the plan "is going to kill a whole lot of people."
"This benefits the for profit health industry, not us," she said.