5. What will happen to Medicare and Medicaid?
Rep. Tom Price, R-Georgia, is Trump’s nominee for leading Health and Human Services and sat through a Senate committee hearing on Jan. 18, where he answered questions regarding Medicare and Medicaid and its future.
Trump and Price have different views when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid. Trump has adamantly said that he doesn’t want to change Medicare. Price, on the other hand, has been a long-time proponent of Medicare changes. Price, however, did assure on Thursday that repealing the Affordable Care Act wouldn’t have an immediate effect on Medicare.
Price said there are no immediate plans to change the healthcare program for seniors. “Nobody’s interested in pulling the rug out from anybody,” Price said.
What is still unclear what Trump and Price will pursue when it comes to Medicare’s shift away from its fee-for-service model to so-called value-based payments that incentivize health providers to be more efficient and effective in managing payment populations. An often overlooked part of Obamacare, the new payment models have already caused large medical device companies to make major shifts in the way they do business. Will they have to shift the way they do business again?
What are medtech lobbyists saying?>>
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Gregory Dennis says
Whatever changes the new Administration and Congress make to the ACA will inevitably be known as Trumpcare. And that seems to have given them great pause. Latest analysis is that they won’t do anything to the ACA this year, because it’s a complex set of programs and changing it will have many ripple effects — both on the healthcare industry and everyday Americans.
I hope we can refrain from big changes in the ACA for the sake of patients who would love coverage under many of the proposed changes, and for the sake of businesses, which need certainty and are facing great uncertainty if the ACA is repealed without a clear and sensible replacement.
Chris Newmarker says
Thanks for the comment, Gregory. Good points.