There's one thing that could make Trump's 'Great Healthcare Plan' perfect

By Brett Arends President Trump has at long last unveiled his healthcare plan, putting 'great' in its name. Here's how it could be better. Trump gestures during last week's meeting with oil-industry executives. Donald Trump has at long last unveiled his healthcare plan, branding it the "Great Healthcare Plan." The core of the proposal is to cut the private health-insurance companies out of healthcare altogether - something liberals have been demanding for decades. The Republican president is proposing that Uncle Sam send each of us a check every year so we can buy our own healthcare directly from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and so on. The first thing to say is that if this plan had any chance of becoming law, stocks of the health-insurance companies would be plummeting on Wall Street. After all, this bill would devastate, or even effectively destroy, their businesses. Instead, health-insurance stocks actually rose after the announcement. Many were up by 1% or even more. Investors are not shaken. They are not even stirred. Wall Street thinks this proposal has no chance of getting through Congress. And, given the power, influence and campaign donations handed out by big insurance companies, Wall Street may well be right. The second thing is that Democrats, and especially those on the left, have been railing against the health-insurance companies since at least the 1990s. Back during the push for the Affordable Care Act - or "Obamacare" - in 2009-10 the insurance companies were treated as public enemy No. 1. There is a reason for the criticism. Covering America's health costs through a plethora of private insurance companies, as we do at the moment, is woefully inefficient. Out of every dollar you or I spend on our health-insurance premiums, about 12 cents go to the insurance companies in overhead and profits (mostly overhead). So, if liberals want to be consistent, and to be seen to be consistent, they will give at least one cheer for this part of Trump's proposal, even if they disagree with other parts of it. Stay tuned ... or not. But the third thing about Trump's proposal is that it raises all sorts of further questions. For example, would the government, say, send each of us checks to reimburse us for the healthcare costs we'd faced over the course of the year? If so, who would approve these expenses in advance? Would there be some kind of gatekeeper? Or, instead, would the government send each of us a check at the start of the year, and then we'd have to just hope that this amount covered our health expenses, and those of our families, over the next 12 months? Assuming the latter is the case, what would happen to the small number of people each year faced with catastrophic costs? What would happen to those with expensive and chronic conditions, who account for such a disproportionate amount of America's healthcare spending? Or to anyone faced with a big spike in costs? These problems are why people buy health insurance in the first place. They don't want to play Russian roulette. There's one idea that could really transform this plan and make it a humdinger that most people could support. What if people could use their checks to buy into Medicare - at any age? It is already the most efficient health-insurance program in the country, and it is more popular with its customers than private insurance. Now that would really shake things up - including on Wall Street. Read on: As Democratic candidates debate Obamacare and Medicare for All, voters say their biggest concerns are health-care and drug costs How do Americans feel about 'Medicare-for-All'? This poll has the answer. Opinion: 'Medicare for All'? These doctors say it's possible - if healthcare takes its medicine. What 'Medicare for All' would do to the healthcare sector How would 'Medicare for All' affect my health care and finances? -Brett Arends This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 01-15-26 1452ET