President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to meet with representatives of every U.S. insurance company “in a few days” in a bid to pressure them to lower healthcare costs for Americans.
“I’m going to meet with them in a few days; I’m meeting with them all: 14 companies,” Trump said during a nearly 90-minute speech to the House GOP conference in Washington.
His remarks came as monthly health insurance premiums for millions of Americans on Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare plans more than doubled this year after Congress failed to extend the COVID-era ACA tax credits, which expired on Dec. 31.
During the meeting, Trump reiterated that federal funds should be sent directly to people, bypassing health insurers, a comment that caused a sell-off among companies with significant ACA marketplace operations last November.
Leading providers of government-backed healthcare plans: UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Humana (HUM), CVS Health (CVS), Elevance Health (ELV), Molina Healthcare (MOH), Centene (CNC), and Oscar Health (OSCR).