Trump to summon insurance execs to demand premium cuts

President Trump said Friday he plans to hold a meeting with major insurance companies in the coming days, in a bid to pressure them to lower prices for consumers who are set to see premium costs soar when ObamaCare’s enhanced subsidies expire at the end of the year. “I’m going to call in the insurance companies that are making so much money, and they have to make less, a lot less,” Trump said during an Oval Office announcement on drug pricing. “I’m going to see if they get their price down, to put it very bluntly. And I think that is a very big statement.” Trump said the meeting could take place in Florida, where he will spend the next two weeks, or the first week of 2026 at the White House. He said he came up with the idea on the spot. Shares of major health insurers like UnitedHealth Group Inc., Cigna Group and Humana Inc. plummeted after Trump’s remarks. At the same event, Trump heaped praise on the drug company CEOs who have made deals with the administration to lower costs for Medicare recipients. In the face of tariff threats from the White House, 14 drug companies have publicly reached agreements with the White House in exchange for tariff reprieve. “I have a feeling maybe if they would act like these incredible, brilliant, responsible citizens … people that love our country and they love the world,” Trump said of the pharma CEOs. Insurers, meanwhile, this year tried to fight Congress and the administration on the impact of nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts in the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They have also been lobbying heavily to extend expiring enhanced ObamaCare subsidies. But Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to extend those subsidies and Congress departed Washington for the rest of the year without a deal. When the tax credits expire on Dec. 31, out-of-pocket premium costs for tens of millions of Americans will, on average, more than double in 2026. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), torn between conservatives and moderates in his conference, sided this week with opponents of extending the COVID-era tax credits, which have slashed health insurance costs for some 22 million people. Democrats focused relentlessly on the ObamaCare premium spikes and have worked to put Republicans on the defensive, making it the centerpiece of their demands during the six-week government shutdown earlier this fall. Trump has called on Republicans to send money directly to Americans instead of tax credits sent to insurers, accusing Democrats of being in the pocket of the industry. “My initial thought, and this is what I want to do as of right now. This is the alternative, is that all of the billions and billions, ultimately trillions and trillions of dollars that’s paid to these companies, we’re going to pay directly to the people,” Trump said Friday. “But there’s another way of doing it, and that’s getting the insurance companies to ease up and to cut their pricing way, way down and stay part of the system.”