Tucked into the fine print (the shittier things are always in fine print) of a sweeping ACA regulatory overhaul, the Trump administration is quietly pitching a new idea for people who can’t afford crushing out-of-pocket medical costs: borrow the money from your health insurer, The New York Times reports.
The proposal, floated in the administration’s 1,121-page final rule governing next year’s ACA marketplace, would allow insurers to offer loans to customers blindsided by catastrophic medical bills — loans that would have to be paid back, likely with interest.
However, officials frame it as a lifeline for people who opted for low-premium, high-deductible plans and then got hit with unexpected costs. But with more than a third of American households already carrying some form of medical debt, health policy experts are less than enthused about the idea of adding to that burden.
“The last thing you want to do is increase deductibles and load people up with more medical debt,” said Stanford economist Neale Mahoney. “It seems to be hugely out of touch with where people are.”
Americans are one health crisis away from bankruptcy, and the Trump administration seeks to pile on more medical debt. This must be TrumpCare 2026. As someone who just paid off backbreaking medical debt after two health crises (It took ages, and a GoFundMe, which should never happen in a civilized country), the last thing people need is higher deductibles piled on top of even more debt. The whole idea reeks of being catastrophically out of fucking touch with where ordinary Americans actually are.
The core absurdity is that the administration is pitching more debt as the solution to medical debt — and routing it through the insurer who already took your premiums and still left you holding a devastating bill. That’s not a safety net. That’s a loan shark wearing a goddamn stethoscope.
The Trump administration is basically acknowledging that folks can’t afford their bills, so they’re then handing the solution back to the very industry that’s already squeezing the life out of them. “Here, let your insurer be your creditor, too!” is not the solution they think it is.
Hey, where is the health care plan Trump promised in “two weeks” years ago? It looks like this is Donald’s “concept of a plan.” But thanks for the impetus to drive Republicans out of office when the midterms roll around, because this is the chef’s kiss levels of audacity right in our faces.
