President Biden expected to announce plans to crack down on healthcare costs
WASHINGTON (KDKA) - Today, President Biden is expected to announce a plan to improve your health insurance.
He's set to speak about his healthcare agenda which will focus on cracking down on "junk fees," prescription drug costs, and cutting healthcare costs in relation to bad, short-term plans.
Many Americans use short-term healthcare plans while they are looking for a new job or switching healthcare providers and it costs them big bucks. It also often does not cover those with preexisting conditions.
In a letter sent in February 2022, 38 Senat Democrats and two independents send the Biden Administration a letter asking them to immediately restore the three-month cap and ban the sales of short-term plans on the Affordable Care Act exchange.
President Biden is looking to cut down on a Trump Administration expansion of the limited healthcare coverage, which Democrats along with patient advocacy groups have criticized for undermining the Affordable Care Act and its broad protections for patients with preexisting conditions.
The Obama Administration, in 2016, limited short-term plans to three months in order to get more people on year-round plans created by the Affordable Care Act.
However, in 2018, the Trump Administration adopted regulations that let people stay on short-term insurance plans for 12 months and then renew those plans for up to three years.
Critics at the time called the short-term plans "junk" saying that they wold not protect people with preexisting conditions.
The White House is hoping that the new rules on these junk plans will help patients be better protected by getting them on longer-term plans.
The president is also hoping these new rules will lower healthcare costs and crack down on unnecessary fees for patients.