Trump takes populist turn against health insurers

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

11/28/25 5:00 PM ET


President Trump is blaming health insurers for rising health care costs, adopting a populist approach as he seeks to counter attacks by Democrats that the GOP has done too little to keep health care affordable. Democrats are pushing Congress to quickly hold a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits scheduled to expire at the end of this year.

Trump is reportedly preparing a proposal that would extend the subsidies for two years, along with a series of reforms favored by Republicans, but delayed an announcement facing GOP pushback. Whether or not a deal gets done, Democrats have used the shutdown to put Republicans on defense over health care, and Trump and his allies are looking to reframe the conversation by making insurers enemy No. 1.

“I’m sure the White House realizes that, you know, having premiums increase on voters ahead, especially heading into an election year where affordability is a big conversation, is not ideal politically,” one GOP campaign strategist told The Hill. “They may come to some kind of deal, but that will kind of maybe help alleviate the attention that’s being directed at insurance companies right now. But healthcare is still going to be a big issue.”

Trump said last week he would only support a plan involving “sending the money directly back to the people,” aiming to circumvent insurance companies. “The only healthcare I will support or approve is sending the money directly back to the people, with nothing going to the big, fat, rich insurance companies, who have made $trillions, and ripped off America long enough,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5621976-trump-blames-insurers-healthcare/

[jfz9580m]

1. Stopped clock

Opportunistic stopped clock..

[BaronChocula]

2. Same guy who

separated children from their parents with no plan or mechanism to reunite them.

Same guy who fired nuclear weapons workers "to shrink government" before realizing they were important.

Same guy who's detaining u.s. citizens for "immigration violations"

And so on. I wouldn't trust him to return money I'm owed.

[wolfie001]

20. The women dying in hospital parking lots because the hospital is afraid to treat them

Is at the top of my list. That fat, old, pig imbecile.

[BaronChocula]

39. I thought for sure

that would be a top factor in deciding the election. I didn't realize how much more important chicken eggs were to people than the life of women. What little faith I had in people's judgement was blown out.

[wolfie001]

43. Yep! Every word is true nt

[RandySF]

3. They would gladly end health insurance

And require Americans to directly pay doctors and hospitals like people do in many developing countries.

[The Madcap]

27. And when the bill is too high

T**** will pay for your cyanide prescription.

[dalton99a]

36. +1

[bmichaelh]

4. Trump does not understand healthcare

I am a a lymphoma survivor in my third remission; first diagnosed in 1990.

My maintenance treatments cost just under $1million year.

My insurer does not pay out that; cancer clinic get half through discounts.

I do not see the federal government writing checks directly to my cancer clinic.

[TommyT139]

5. No way he would pay

...for all those MRIs out of his own pocket.

And if he hadn't gotten that cutting edge experimental covid treatment in his first administration, we'd all be in a much different place right now.

[KPN]

6. Says the "big, fat, rich" guy who is ripping off Americans

at a pace and to a tune of trillions.

[Bettie]

7. He didn't get his payment

this month? That's what I'm thinking.

[paleotn]

12. This! I think you're correct.

Or he's soliciting a big check.

[617Blue]

8. He knows his Big Bullshitty Bill will crush many.

[debsy]

9. He doesn't consider nor care about "the American people".

When he says “sending the money back to the American people”, he means the morbidly wealthy, including himself and his family. Everything he does is designed to transfer wealth from the 99% to the top 1% (using rounded figures, of course, since we all know the numbers are closer to 99.9% to 0.1%).

[jfz9580m]

10. "morbidly wealthy"

That’s the first time I have heard that term and I like it ..

[debsy]

14. Thank you!

I can’t take credit for it, though. It truly is a thing:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/deconstructing-illness/202302/morbid-wealth]

[paleotn]

11. United, Cigna, Kaiser, et al., will give Donnie some cash....

and he'll shut up about it. Republicans have any sort of plan since they don't want reform. They want things to go back to what they were pre ACA.

[azureblue]

13. more BS

He knows he's losing (spelled with one ("o&quot supporters so he'll say anything to get them back. Do something is a different matter.

[Hope22]

15. With T we used to have a four year country...

Now life is dissected into two week and two year bits. Business, international relations and individuals can not survive with continual disruption of economic, health insurance and irrational behavior from our government. Stability is nonexistent under this administration. Life is a river of uncertainty and despair for a large portion of the population. The ACA was jerked with out of hatred by people who are given healthcare, retirement, paid income when they shut the government down and access to insider trading and financial information. Life as a hostage for most of us is a futile act of existence.

[lonely bird]

16. His "populism" is stupidity based

Examine explanations of benefits…discounts, credits, acceptance of payment as paid in full that are a percentage of charges.

Yes, the insurance companies as well as pharmacy benefit managers cause opacity and, imo, chaos resulting in profit. The stupidity is that giving money back to “the people” doesn’t trigger reduced costs. Imo, the only solution is single payer at best or something like Canada’s system at worst.

[lostincalifornia]

17. A pathological liar says something. Will people fall for that again? I have lost a lot of confidence in the wisdom of

the American public.

[bronxiteforever]

18. Hill Shill. The plan is meant to enrich insurers

Give the money to the citizen. 2,000.00. With that money you must insure yourself for a year.
If you have a preexisting condition the insurer can’t not cover you but can charge you 4xs as much as a healthy person.
The government will not be responsible for any expenses beyond the flat dollar amount. If anything goes wrong and you can’t afford extra procedures welcome to the river Styx. Regardless of your condition you get the flat government dollar and no more. As was said in the movie Goodfellows:

[ToxMarz]

19. The solution is not to get rid of insurance, it only works as an insurance model

Insurance - the practice of managing the risk of a large, unexpected financial hit by sharing the risk is known as risk pooling or risk transfer.

You can not give everyone enough money to cover every potential risk, there isn't enough money and it is extraordinarly inefficient.

Unfortunately, the only answer is to do the hard work of managing the insurance system which no one seems to want to do and because of the amount money involved it is riff with corruption .

Medicare for all would be a good start.

[GreenWave]

21. So send DOGE and ICE to shake 'em down?

Or do the masses get mere words, no action?

[travelingthrulife]

22. Why do you even report this fool's words, The Hill? They are meaningless drivel.

[kimbutgar]

23. Someone at one of his gasby parties appealed to him and he's repeating it

By tomorrow he will forget he even said that. I call bs on his comments he doesn’t give a shit about the American people only himself and his wealthy donors.

[BradBo]

24. Trump is trying to save his skin. It's too late.

[melm00se]

25. LOOK!

Shiny object in the room.

[Gimpyknee]

26. Eight years later we're still waiting for Trump's healthcare plan.

[SSJVegeta]

28. Broken clock

[no_hypocrisy]

29. I could save and make a medical trust for myself today,

and I still wouldn't have enough funds to finance my healthcare, esp. as I age.

[Ocelot II]

30. What about all that sweet money from insurance company lobbyists?

I can't imagine he's willing to give that up. The money he wants to send directly to the people will end up back in the coffers of United Health et al. because unless we get universal health care people will need health insurance. So we'll go back to having to buy coverage that doesn't cover anything.

[Javaman]

31. give it time. he will either backtrack, TACO, forget it or change his mind in less than a week.

he will have a "big meeting" with the healthcare CEOs who will promptly verbally blow him, shower him with bullshit and dime store tickets.

then the orange asshole will have one of his, now very predictable, change of mind

[Raftergirl]

32. They dug their own grave by refusing to negotiate with the D's on the subsidies during the shut down.

Now it’s too late for them to do anything irt health insurance costs. People will begin to have to pay a lot more in January or have to drop it. The fury of the people will undeniable and the Republicans will be blamed.

Millions and millions of MAGA voters are affected. It’s different then the costs of tariffs to the consumer as that affects people in dribs and drabs. The increase in premiums is huge and will be felt immediately.

[not fooled]

33. It's just farting out of its ass

in case there are any 'Muricans stupid enough to still believe him. Oh please, b*tch.

If his donors could figure out how to turn a profit on the bodies of the dead killed by insufficient healthcare, he'd be completely on board.

[ificandream]

34. Shame on The Hill for making his bullshit more palatable

None of this will happen. Those of you who accuse NYT and the Post of letting him slide should now be saying that to The Hill. This is pure b.s. to take attention away from Jeffrey Epstein.

[hibbing]

35. "series of reforms favored by Republicans"

Let me guess, take away all the minimum requirements that are in place today. Oh yeah, and somehow a tax cut for the ruling class will have to be a part of these "reforms". What a crap article.

[Bayard]

38. Agreed

Its only politics for them, and they admit it. Helping people is beyond their comprehension.

trump idea of sending money to people directly will never work. They will only spend it on luxuries like food and rent.

[duckworth969]

37. Chumpkin will change his mind again

& again & again…Vought will tell him what to do. Or Witkoff. Or Miller. Or Bannon. Or Loomer. Or Wiles. Presidential decisions by committee.

[Evolve Dammit]

40. "Oh he didn't mean that." Believe it when I see it. Assume Nothing, ever.

[Americanme]

41. Populist turn? Yeah, right.

Either give us single payer, or shut yer face. As long as insurers are paying executives multiple millions every year, we will not have affordable health care.

[ConstanceCee]

42. What We Need is Medicare for All.

[Blasphemer]

44. He does this faux populism all the time. Nothing will come of it. nt