Study: Trump’s Obamacare Reforms Will Save Americans $450 Billion

A White House study released on Friday found that President Donald Trump’s Obamacare reforms will save Americans roughly $450 billion over the next ten years.

A White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) study released on Friday found that Americans will save $450 billion through Trump’s Obamacare reforms. The CEA suggested that Trump’s repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate and the expansion of short-term insurance plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) will save Americans billions over the next ten years.

The White House also suggested that the benefits of Trump’s deregulatory actions saved Americans billions, increased access to more health insurance options, and did not amount to a “sabotage” of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

President Trump signed an executive order in October 2017 which expanded short-term limited-duration health insurance plans.

Short-term plans allow for Americans to keep their plans for up to 364 days and to renew their plans for up to three years. Because short-term plans do not have to comply with many Obamacare insurance regulations, insurance companies can offer more customized and cheaper plans compared to the individual market.

Trump also expanded AHPs, which offer businesses and workers more affordable health insurance options. AHPs are health insurance pools sponsored by an industry, trade, or professional association that provides health coverage to their members.

Land O’ Lakes, which created the nation’s first AHP, said that their plans were roughly 50 percent less expensive compared to Obamacare plans.

The CEA estimated that five million Americans will choose an AHP or a short-term plan as the result of the Trump administration’s health care executive orders. The study also suggested that another five million will benefit as the result of the repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate.

Many Americans have contended that because 80 percent of those who paid the Obamacare mandate made less than $50,000 a year, the individual mandate repeal serves as a significant middle-class tax break.

The CEA said about 87 percent of Obamacare exchange enrollees receive ACA subsidies and “only pay a fraction of their health insurance costs.”

Many Obamacare proponents suggested that the repeal of the individual mandate, as well as the expansion of short-term plans and AHPs, would lead to higher premiums on the Obamacare exchanges.

In contrast, the CEA contended that because more people will use AHPs and short-term plans and fewer people will use the ACA exchanges, the government will save $185 billion over the next ten years.

The CEA said that instead of sabotaging the ACA, the Trump administration offered millions of Americans more affordable health insurance options.

“The oft-expressed view that deregulation ‘sabotages the ACA’ by giving consumers more insurance-coverage options is misguided,” the CEA said.