In a series of social media postings on Tuesday, December 2nd, President Donald Trump signaled support for two major Republican-backed health care bills. First, he retweeted former Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) suggestion to expand Association Health Plans (AHPs), praising the effort as potentially bipartisan and aimed at lowering insurance premiums.
Trump highlighted a text message from Paul that acknowledged past differences between them but pointed to previous collaboration during Trump’s first term. Paul had advocated for AHP legislation then, which Trump signed via executive order, though he admitted it didn’t succeed due to opposition in court by Democratic attorneys general.
Paul now argues the policy could be passed legislatively and urged Trump to help push it through Congress. He emphasized that expanding AHPs “costs nothing” and would modify labor law to allow collective insurance purchasing, similar to arrangements at large retailers like Costco, Amazon, or Sam’s Club.
Trump’s attention came shortly after Republican Reps. Rick Allen (Georgia) and Jodey Arrington (Texas) introduced their “Healthy Competition for Better Care Act.” The bill promotes health care market competition by targeting anti-competitive practices and removing restrictions that hinder such competition.
Both the Paul proposal and the Allen-Arrington bill stress increased competition in health insurance as essential to restoring quality access and affordability for Americans.
