President Trump’s State of the Union Address contained a number of distortions, false claims and outright lies regarding drug pricing and access to medicines. Skyrocketing drug prices are a life and death issue for people with HIV in the U.S. and around the world. Here’s a side by side comparison of the facts versus what Trump said.
Read moreMaking America Healthy Again: Analyzing Trump's Take on the Social Determinants of Health [from Health Affairs Blog] →
George Consortium member and Northeastern University professor Patricia Illingsworth concludes on the Health Affairs Blog that the Trump administration shows "little interest in addressing the social determinants" of health, such as "education, socioeconomic status, poverty, the physical and social environment, employment, and discrimination, among others..."
Read moreCan Trump Simply Stop Paying Subsidies to Insurance Companies?
In recent days, President Donald Trump announced, via Twitter, that "If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!" He was presumably referring first to cost-sharing reduction subsidy payments to insurance companies required by the Affordable Care Act and, second, to the fact that members of Congress and their staff are required to buy health insurance on the ACA market instead of being allowed on the federal employee health plan. However, unlike most people who purchase insurance via the marketplace, Congressional staffers still receive an employer subsidy. Ending subsidy payments to insurance companies could be catastrophic to the market - so can Trump simply stop paying them?
Read moreHealth Care for Trans Military Members is Not That Expensive
Today, the President tweeted that he is barring all transgender individuals from serving in the military "in any capacity." One justification he claimed was their "tremendous medical costs." But, as STAT points out, "at least two studies in recent years have found that the cost of medical care for transgender service members would be minimal."
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