President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will be “getting rid of insurance brokers and corporate middlemen” to reduce healthcare premiums for Americans as part of his “Great Healthcare Plan” unveiled yesterday.
“To further reduce the insurance premiums, my plan ends the giant kickbacks to insurance brokers and corporate middlemen that you’ve been hearing about for so long,” Trump said during a White House event on rural health. “We are getting rid of middlemen,” Trump added.
“It also funds the so-called cost-sharing reduction program to bring down the cost of most common plans on the Exchanges by more than 15%,” he said during the rural health roundtable, which was attended by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top healthcare officials.
Trump’s remarks came as Americans buying insurance on Obamacare exchanges were slapped with a sharp rise in healthcare premiums for 2026 after Congress failed to extend the COVID-era tax subsidies, which expired on Dec. 31.
The healthcare industry has come under scrutiny lately over soaring drug prices, with lawmakers on both sides blaming the pharmacy benefit managers, which function as middlemen between health insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and pharmacies.
Leading PBMs are run by health insurers such as CVS Health (CVS), Cigna (CI), UnitedHealth (UNH), and Humana (HUM).
Previously, Trump announced plans to redirect subsidy payments directly to individuals, bypassing insurers. “I want to send that extra money straight to health savings accounts (HSA) for you, and you can choose your own healthcare,” he added.
Elevance Health (ELV), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), CVS Health (CVS), Centene (CNC), Molina Healthcare (MOH), and Oscar Health (OSCR) run large ACA marketplace businesses. Health Equity (HQY) is a notable HSA provider.
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