Trump's Vague Policies Leave Key Questions On Future Of Health Coverage, Quality, Medicare

Since the campaign offered few specifics on how Donald Trump would repeal and replace the health law, many issues are in flux. Questions include: Will Republicans continue to guarantee coverage for people with pre-existing conditions; what happens to the low-income people who have been added to the Medicaid rolls; how will the administration deal with growing Medicare costs; and will efforts continue to move health payments toward paying for quality instead of quantity.

Bloomberg: Trump Outlines Health Plan, From Obamacare Repeal To Abortion

On his transition page Thursday, Trump hinted at softening the coverage guarantee for those with pre-existing conditions under the ACA, saying high-risk pools -- state insurance programs for individuals who are sick or otherwise unable to get coverage -- would cover those with large medical expenses who have “not maintained continuous coverage.” Repealing the ACA, a law passed in 2010 that brought insurance to about 20 million people who previously lacked it, could leave those with pre-existing conditions without insurance. (Tracer and Kapur, 11/10)

Morning Consult: Trump’s Updated Health Proposals Still Leave Questions

President-elect Donald Trump’s most updated health care proposals don’t say whether a Trump health care policy would require insurers to cover pre-existing conditions or whether the law would continue an expanded Medicaid program. Those are two of several questions that advocates and observers are posing about how Trump plans to replace the Affordable Care Act, which bars insurers from denying covering to people with pre-existing health conditions. Then there’s this. The biggest challenge that Republicans face in attempting to advance health reform is how to continue covering the 20 million people who gained have insurance under the ACA. (McIntire, 11/10)

Politico Pro: Five Questions About Trump And Health Care, Beyond The ACA

The post-election headline grabber is “Repeal and Replace” — when it would happen, what it would look like, what kind of transition would bridge the Affordable Care Act to whatever comes next. But there are a host of other gnawing health issues. Here are five we’re watching. (Kenen, 11/10)

Modern Healthcare: Will Value-Based Payment Initiatives Continue Under Trump?

President-elect Donald Trump's promise to dismantle the Affordable Care Act is unlikely to also undo widespread efforts to nudge the U.S. healthcare system toward value-based payment, including with experiments devised by the ACA-funded CMS Innovation Center. “The concept of value in healthcare has been around a long time,” said Helen Darling, interim president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Quality Forum. Fundamental ideas like the importance of transparency and data to patients, providers and competition existed well before the Affordable Care Act, and they are as Republican as they are Democratic, she said. “Some of those things are more Republican than Democrat, frankly,” she added. (Whitman, 11/11)

The New York Times: Trump Wants To ‘Drain The Swamp,’ But Change Will Be Complex And Costly

Within the government’s health agencies, Mr. Trump’s campaign also proposed eliminating the Food and Drug Administration’s “food police,” which it said “dictate how the federal government expects farmers to produce fruits and vegetables and even dictates the nutritional content of dog food.” But the proposal was quickly taken down from the campaign’s website. The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, which strengthened the F.D.A.’s oversight of food, is popular among many Republicans as well as with food manufacturers, tarnished by massive food recalls. (Shear and Harris, 11/10)

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