Over the weekend, Donald Trump faced a wave of criticism after announcing a new plan that he claimed would send billions of dollars directly to Americans instead of giving that money to insurance companies through government healthcare subsidies. He said his idea would replace what he called the “bad healthcare” provided under Obamacare and give people the freedom to buy their own insurance while keeping some money left over.
Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying: “I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the hundreds of billions of dollars currently being sent to money-sucking insurance companies to save the bad healthcare provided by ObamaCare be sent directly to the people so they can purchase their own, much better healthcare, and have money left over.”
However, many experts and politicians quickly criticized the idea, calling it unrealistic and dangerous. Economist Justin Wolfers mocked Trump’s plan by saying it was like a question from an introductory economics exam. He explained that giving people cash instead of using it to support health insurance programs would make the system worse, not better. According to him, such a move would increase the number of people without insurance and make healthcare markets less stable.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy called Trump’s proposal “nonsensical.” He questioned whether Trump was seriously suggesting that people should just get a few thousand dollars instead of health coverage. “What happens when someone gets cancer?” he asked. “They’ll go bankrupt because treatment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. This idea is ridiculous and shows how unserious he is. That’s one reason the government is shut down—and Americans know it.”
Veteran Matthew Spira also criticized Trump’s plan, sarcastically pointing out that most Americans already struggle to pick the best healthcare plans or make good financial investment decisions. “If people were really good at managing this on their own,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “we wouldn’t need financial advisors or insurance experts. But the reality is, they often get tricked by companies that care more about profits than people.”
Melanie D’Arrigo, who leads the Campaign for New York Health, warned that Trump’s idea would be devastating. She noted that giving birth without insurance can cost around $18,865, and cancer treatment can easily exceed $150,000. “Under Trump’s plan, millions of people would go broke or die because they wouldn’t be able to afford care,” she said. “Instead of putting more money into the pockets of private companies, our taxes should fund universal healthcare, like Medicare for All.”
She concluded that Trump’s proposal would “kill a whole lot of people” and mainly benefit the for-profit health industry, not ordinary Americans.
In short, Trump’s plan to give Americans direct cash instead of funding health insurance has been widely rejected by experts, lawmakers, and healthcare advocates, who say it would only make healthcare more expensive, less accessible, and far more dangerous for those who need it most.
