I’m actually disappointed with Trump’s plan, because he doesn’t identify one of the most expensive requirements of Obamacare - mandatory maternity coverage and the evil twin, forbidding the pricing of insurance to be based upon gender. So of course, man or woman, you have maternity coverage on your policy.
For a 40 year old woman, that is an extra $350 a month on most insurance plans (vs pre-ObamaCare plans where maternity coverage was optional.) For a 44 year old man, that’s an extra $500 a month as equality requirements mandate that he pay just as much as a member of another gender.
Two more segments that need to be done - tort reform; juries and judges no longer have a blank check to seize unlimited amounts of assets at their whim. And bankruptcy - all debt, including medical debt, should be dischargeable.
Both of those would have dramatic effect on controlling medical costs - the first from the unholy tax we all pay in this country on every single medical device, pill and office visit that goes to feed the medical tort lottery (and a considerable legal system which feeds upon it.) The second is an outright encouragement to the medical establishment to keep prices affordable.
Healthcare costs drive insurance cost. Drive down the cost of the first and the second becomes it’s true definition, coverage for catastrophic circumstances. I too used to believe that tort reform would drive down costs dramatically. That changed in 2012 when I was privy to a west coast (California) hospital survey that included nearly all public and private hospitals in the state. Legal costs/liabilities amounted to slightly less than 3%, on the average, of these institutions total financial liabilities. Administrative errors amounted to around 4%. Remember, the medical industry is the only major US business not subject to ANY anti monopoly law/codes. Disclaimer: I and members of my family have been in the ‘industry’ for a combined 109 years.