President Trump Issues Remarks on Expanding Health Coverage Options for Small Businesses, Workers
THE PRESIDENT: Please. You must like what I'm about to say, I think. (Laughter.) And we all like what we're about to say. We worked very hard on it.
And thank you all for joining us on this magnificent day in the
We're delighted to be joined today by Vice President
In addition, I want to express my gratitude to Secretary
A man who has been working very hard for this day: Secretary
And also with us are Acting Administrator of the Small Business Administration
And Treasurer of the United States
And I want to extend a special welcome to the many small business owners who are here. We have a lot of them in the -- in our midst. And thank you very much. This is a big advantage for you and something where you can take care a lot of -- a lot of great people are going to be taken care of. So, thank you all for being here. Thank you very much.
Small business optimism is soaring in our very booming and big economy. And today, we give you even more reason for your confidence in the future.
Two years ago, in October of 2017, I signed an executive order to increase healthcare choice and competition all across our nation. Since that time, my administration has worked tirelessly to expand options and drive down the cost of healthcare for the American people.
We took swift action to open short-term health plans and association health plans to millions and millions of Americans. Many of these options are already reducing the cost of health insurance premiums by up to 60 percent and, really, more than that.
We also have launched a new initiative to bring down the price of prescription drugs. We are holding Big Pharma accountable. And, I must say, Big Pharma has also been working with us to try and get prices down. And if we had support with the
We've reduced prices now by a -- quite a bit. And this year is the first year,
And we could get them down a lot more if we had a little support in
We've asked
And we're making dramatic strides in combatting the opioid epidemic. We have it down by a period of almost -- a number of almost 17 percent this year. And when I heard it, I thought they made a mistake. I said, "You are not real. That's not a real number." And it is very much a real number.
So, Kellyanne and all of the people that have worked on that, that's a tremendous achievement. And we've worked with the medical profession and with doctors and with everybody, and to think that it's 17 percent in one year -- that's a tremendous achievement. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
And we're now working with
No American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance. We're promoting price transparency to force competition and drive down cost. And that's what's happening, and that's one of the reasons we're getting the drug prices -- stopping from those tremendous increases that have taken effect for so many years. For so many decades, they've been going only in one direction: up. And now we have them breaking even and going down.
We're defending Medicare and
And we will always protect patients with preexisting conditions. Always. (Applause.) We're always going to protect the patients. Preexisting conditions.
And today I'm pleased to announce another groundbreaking action. We are dramatically increasing the ability of Americans to access more affordable health insurance through options and through their employers. We're doing so by expanding Health Reimbursement Arrangements, or HRAs, as they are commonly known. HRAs will allow American workers to shop for the plan that's right for them and their family, and have their employer cover the cost. And it's a reasonable cost, and people are going to be getting tremendous benefits.
This will be possible because HRAs will now receive the same tax treatment that other employer-provided health plans have always enjoyed. There was a lot of restrictions, and it was impossible until now. This is something that its time has come. It's popular. It's really, really been a success. And I think this is going to be -- for many people, this will be the way of the future.
The previous administration imposed crushing fines and other penalties on HRAs to prevent employees from selecting the plan of their choice. It was impossible. With today's action, we are eliminating all of those restrictions. And thanks to the changes we're making, an estimated 11 million Americans will now choose their own plans with the help of the HRAs. This will increase the size -- (applause) -- thank you. This is a very big deal. This will increase the size of the individual market by at least 50 percent, improving choice, promoting competition, and lowering costs for the American people.
HRAs provide another important option to help even more employers offer great health insurance. And the benefits to the American workers will be incredible. They will be especially useful for small employers: An estimated 90 percent of the businesses that will take advantage of HRAs have fewer than 20 employees.
This announcement is a monumental victory for small businesses, for their workers, and previously uninsured Americans who will now have access to high-quality health plans of their choice.
With us today is one of our nation's wonderful small business owners:
Please. Thank you, Tom. (Applause.) Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
At the time, we had been helping our employees, some who had very serious medical conditions, including cancer. And after the Obama ruling we had to stop all reimbursements, and -which caused a great bit of hardship for our employees. And several of them I actually ended up losing because they had to leave us and go to other companies that offered a little better health benefits.
So I want to thank the President and the administration for supporting this new measure and all of his pro-small-business policies. We very much appreciate it in the small-business community.
So this new rule really allows small businesses to offer a benefit to our employees that will help our employees with healthcare costs, provide more and better options for them and also for employers.
So, again, thank you very much, Mr. President. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Also, we're joined right now --
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. How are you doing? Nice to see you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Have a good time.
And, right now, my brother and I -- Allen -- choose the healthcare plan for all of those employees. They don't have the opportunity to choose the provider, the coverage, or the premium. This plan -- HRAs -- would allow us to give them the opportunity to choose the plan that's best for them. Thank you. Thank you for making (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, darling. Use it well. Use it well, Andrea. That's -- you will. Thank you very much.
And it's going to be a great -- it'll be a great difference. I've repeatedly called on
Instead, more than 120
On my watch, we will never let that happen. We will never be a socialist country. (Applause.)
We have to reject the socialist model that rations care, restricts access, slashes quality, and forces patients onto endless waitlists. Instead, we believe in freedom. We believe in choice. We believe in the highest standard of care in the world -- anywhere in the world.
And we believe that American families must always have the right and the power to choose the very best treatments, plans, doctors for themselves and for their loved ones. They need that freedom. They have to have that freedom. And that's exactly what today's action is all about. We are putting the people back in charge with more choice, for better care, at a far lower cost.
And other people will not be paying for their healthcare. We won't be raising taxes. We won't be taxing you into oblivion. We won't be raising the tax rates to 90 percent. I've heard 90 percent. The only problem with that one: It doesn't even come close to taking care of the situation. So that means you have to go a lot higher than 90 percent. I don't think that's going to work too well in this country. We've lowered taxes. We want to keep them down. That's very important. (Applause.)
And we will not rest until Americans have the healthcare system they need and deserve, a system that finally puts American patients first.
I want to thank everybody for being here. It's a very important day, a very special day. God bless you, and God Bless America.
Thank you all very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you everybody.
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