Yves here. We wrote yesterday about the gimmick of Trump\u2019s pretense that he will cap interest on credit cards at 10% for only a year. Not only won\u2019t it happen because that change would require legislation, but more important because it is a terrible idea. We explained long form that it would hurt ordinary citizens, particularly the most financially stressed and merely inconvenience banks by making them have to rearrange their businesses so as to preserve their rents. There are ways to tackle bank predation by lending to weak borrowers and getting them on an extractive treadmill, but this is not that.<\/p>\n
Trump has offered a new page from his bad playbook, of a sketchy healthcare scheme that might look good at a great distance, but falls apart, not just in delivering real benefits but actually working at all.<\/p>\n
However, it is disappointing to see reform advocates continue to tout Medicare for All. Medicare is better than a lot of US insurance, but it\u2019s unduly complex with many gaps and is being downgraded to something more like threadbare Medicare Advantage plans.<\/p>\n
Twitter is full of catcalls from the peanut gallery. A sample:<\/p>\n
\n\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8BREAKING\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has revealed \u201cThe Great Healthcare Plan\u201d which will give families $2,000 annually to purchase their own health insurance. <\/p>\n
The average annual health insurance premium for a family is $26,000. <\/p>\n
His proposal will cover 28 days of health insurance\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/uAHoM68Oju<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 The Green Dragon Tavern (@greendragonhq) January 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nThe Trump administration\u2019s proposal to redirect health subsidies into direct cash payments is not a substitute for a healthcare plan. The Affordable Care Act\u2019s protections for people with pre-existing conditions are not symbolic they are the product of enforceable rules such as\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/myo7pvzh4L<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Gavriel E. Toviel (@GavrielEToviel) January 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
By Brett Wilkins, a staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump<\/a> on Thursday announced a \u201cGreat Healthcare<\/a> Plan\u201d that critics panned for being \u201cshort on details<\/a>,\u201d arguing that\u2014contrary to White House<\/a> claims\u2014the scheme will lead to higher consumer costs and less care.<\/p>\n
Trump called on Congress to pass his proposal<\/a>, which he said<\/a> will \u201clower drug prices<\/a>, lower insurance premiums, hold big insurance companies accountable, and maximize price transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the advocacy group Protect Our Care called<\/a> the proposal a \u201cjoke healthcare plan\u201d and a \u201csad attempt to continue gaslighting the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSince taking office, President Trump and his cronies in Congress have taken a hammer to American healthcare to enrich billionaires and big corporations,\u201d the group said. \u201cFirst, they slashed $1 trillion dollars from Medicaid<\/a>, and then they doubled, tripled, and quadrupled health premiums for nearly 22 million Americans already struggling to get by in Trump\u2019s unaffordable America.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that it is clear that busting working families\u2019 budgets is bad policy and bad politics, Trump is scrambling for a lifeline,\u201d Protect Our Care added. \u201cThe solution to ending the Trump-GOP premium disaster isn\u2019t rocket science<\/a>. It is the three-year, clean extension of the Affordable Care Act<\/a> tax credits that the House passed<\/a>. This commonsense solution that Trump callously threatened to veto is now sitting on Senate Republican Leader John Thune\u2019s (SD) desk.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senate\u2014which last month voted down<\/a> a similar three-year-extension to what House lawmakers passed\u2014has yet to schedule<\/a> a vote on the extension. An attempt to advance the bill through a unanimous consent agreement was blocked<\/a>by Republicans<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget<\/a> Committee, said in a statement<\/a> Thursday that \u201cTrump\u2019s half-baked healthcare \u2018plan\u2019 is a con that does nothing to help Americans facing soaring costs and would raise healthcare expenses while cutting coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s no surprise from a president who is taking healthcare away from 15 million Americans to pay for tax breaks for billionaires,\u201d he added. \u201cIf the White House is serious about lowering healthcare costs right now, they should support legislation to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that already passed the House with bipartisan support. The American people deserve real solutions, not gimmicks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates<\/u><\/a> that a three-year extension of the enhanced ACA premium tax credits would increase the number of Americans with health insurance by millions, including approximately 3 million in 2027 and 4 million in 2028.<\/p>\n
\nTrump’s new health care plan if it was honest: https:\/\/t.co\/j0HczIQ44C<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/9n68wMEkgH<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Rep. Brendan Boyle (@CongBoyle) January 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Eagan Kemp, healthcare policy advocate at the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen<\/a>, said in a statement<\/a> Thursday that \u201cTrump\u2019s Great Healthcare Plan is impressive only in the fact that it isn\u2019t great, wouldn\u2019t substantively improve healthcare, and isn\u2019t even detailed enough to be considered a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump and his cronies have had more than a decade to come up with something beyond \u2018concepts of a plan\u2019 but have failed time and time again,\u201d Kemp continued. \u201cThe American people are suffering under a broken healthcare system that has been made worse by Trump and his MAGA allies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy passing tax cuts<\/a> for billionaires and paying for them through healthcare cuts for tens of millions of people, Trump and Republicans showed their disdain for everyday Americans. In the short run, the Senate must follow the lead of the House and pass a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the longer term,\u201d Kemp added, \u201cwe must finally pass Medicare for All<\/a>, an actually great healthcare plan, to finally guarantee everyone in the US can get the care they need throughout their lives without financial barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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