President-elect Donald Trump’s victory has thrown the healthcare industry a curve ball just as it was adjusting to President Obama’s sweeping health reform law.
While the leading associations for insurers, medical professionals and drug companies say publicly they’re prepared to work with the new administration to improve the law, there’s a palpable sense of unease about its future as Trump and Republicans in Congress have vowed to repeal and replace it.
“One word — uncertainty,” said one senior member of a leading healthcare company. “Not just on [Affordable Care Act] but everything. The uncertainty is freaking everyone out across the board.”
Insurers are now selling plans on the Obamacare marketplaces for the fourth year, and they’ve been complying with its requirements to cover people with pre-existing conditions and children up to age 26 for longer than that.
If insurers hate anything, it’s uncertainty about who might enroll in their plans, as they set rates based on projections about enrollment. They’ve already weathered some bumpy years in the Obamacare marketplaces, as customers ended up sicker and more expensive than expected.
America’s Health Insurance Plans said it’s prepared to work with the new administration on improving the marketplaces, which have been suffering from premium spikes and insurer exits.
“We will work across the aisle — with every policymaker and the new administration — to find solutions that deliver affordable coverage and high-quality care for everyone,” the group said in a statement.
Steve Ubl, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said he looks forward to working with the new administration on ways to improve the private market, patient access to care and foster the development of new medicines.
The American Academy of Family Physicians sent a letter to Trump on Wednesday outlining goals they’d like him to take on as president, including making insurance affordable for more Americans, especially low-income Americans.
“The transition in governance comes in the midst of an ongoing health system change that will determine whether patients have access to high quality, affordable healthcare in the future,” wrote AAFP President John Meigs.
