Insurance execs meet with Trump
WASHINGTON — At the White House Monday morning, President Donald Trump held a listening session with a group of people who represented the country’s largest health insurance companies to discuss the president’s planned repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
“We just had a great meeting with the governors on the horrible effects that Obamacare is having,” Trump said. “We’re going to change it and straighten it out, and make — we have a plan that’s going to be, I think, fantastic. It will be released fairly soon. … But I think it’s going to be something special, and we’ll talk it about right here. I think we’ll get you on, and I think you’re going to like what you hear.”
Dept. of Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price, as well as executives from such insurance companies as Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana and Kaiser Permanente joined Trump at the meeting. Anthem CEO Joe Swedish thanked the president for his work to stabilize the insurance market — sentiments that were echoed by Independence Blue Cross president and CEO Dan Hilferty.
“We were thrilled with the initial steps to stabilize the market,” Hilferty said. “We look forward to working with you, Vice President Pence, secretary Price in making sure that we have a sustainable program for years to come. So thank you.”
Trump noted that “we're going to come up with something where not only will the market be great, but the people are going to be taken care of,” and said that he and his party are tackling the Affordable Care Act, because he believes it to be the best course of action for the American people.
“I actually told the Republicans that if we did nothing, just do nothing for a two-year period, let Obamacare totally implode … that would be, from a political standpoint, the best thing we could do is to let it implode, and then people will come begging -- the Democrats will come begging to do something to help them out of the jam,” Trump said. “Once we start doing it, we sort of inherit the problem, we take over the problem, it becomes ours. But it’s the right thing to do for the American people. I think allowing this to go on — this disaster to go on — is a mistake. So I’m asking secretary Price to work with you to stabilize the insurance markets and to ensure a smooth transition to the new plan.”