White House official promises announcement in ‘coming days’ on healthcare, as Trump preps for nationwide tour
When President Donald Trump is touring the country next month to promote his economic agenda, he may be making an announcement related to lowering healthcare costs, a White House official told Reuters.
While the news is expected to be revealed before the end of the year, the outlet noted that the source, speaking on background, did not provide any specifics.
This tour, which is expected to ramp up in early 2026, could be an effort to promote this long-awaited healthcare plan, whatever it may be. But the official did promise that something was coming.
"You will see more in the healthcare space from the president in the coming days and weeks, for sure," Reuters quoted the person as saying.
No firm schedule for Trump’s nationwide tour has been released, in part due to safety concerns after an attempt to assassinate the President was thwarted on July 13, 2024. Reuters mentioned that the gatherings are expected to be indoors, where there are fewer security vulnerabilities.
Trump floats direct payments to Americans
It’s also not clear if this announcement is related to a Nov. 8 social media post, where Trump called on Republicans to reinstitute Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies—except to distribute them directly to Americans instead of insurance companies.
“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the hundreds of billions of dollars currently being sent to money-sucking insurance companies—in order to save the bad healthcare provided by ObamaCare—be sent directly to the people, so that they can purchase their own much better healthcare, and have money left over,” he said.
Shortly after, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) expressed support for the idea, with the latter saying he would begin immediately drafting legislation.
Ultimately, any decision to distribute payments directly to Americans would have to come from Congress.
The extended subsidies to ACA plans, made possible by tax credits passed during the COVID-19 pandemic, have officially expired. However, this renewal chatter points to the GOP’s awareness that a sudden spike to premiums is not going to be popular with the public.
While there are no firm plans in place on how to react—assuming Republicans in Congress plan to take any action at all—CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, told CNN last week that there are regular talks in the White House on extending the tax credits in some form.
“The president’s willing to look at all options,” Oz told CNN’s Dana Bash. “But we have some major flaws with the way these COVID-era subsidies were added. And just so everyone’s on the same page in this issue, our goal is to get people covered.”
It remains unclear if Trump’s upcoming announcement will happen at all, let alone if it will be related to mitigating the cost of health coverage. Without the ACA extended tax credits, an analysis from MoneyGeek found that for bronze level insurance sold through the government exchange, prices rose between 9% and 30%—with two states, Arkansas and New Mexico, seeing premiums hike higher than 50%.
For many, that makes medical insurance effectively unaffordable.
This is a developing story.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.