- Trump Vows 'Insurance for Everybody' in Obamacare Replacement Plan Washington Post by Robert Costa & Amy Goldstein—President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Obama's signature health-care law with the goal of "insurance for everybody," while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid. Trump declined to reveal specifics in the telephone interview late Saturday with The Washington Post, but any proposals from the incoming president would almost certainly dominate the Republican effort to overhaul federal health policy as he prepares to work with his party's congressional majorities. Trump's plan is likely to face questions from the right, after years of GOP opposition to further expansion of government involvement in the health care system, and from those on the left, who see his ideas as disruptive to changes brought by the Affordable Care Act that have extended coverage to tens of millions of Americans. In addition to his replacement plan for the ACA, also known as Obamacare, Trump said he will target pharmaceutical companies over drug prices. "They're politically protected, but not anymore," he said of pharmaceutical companies.
- California Withdraws Bid to Allow Undocumented to Buy Unsubsidized Plans Kaiser Health News by Ana B. Ibarra and Chad Terhune—Lawmakers in Sacramento have halted a first-in-the-nation effort by California to expand access to health coverage for immigrants living in the state without legal documents. At the behest of the state legislature, Covered California, the state's insurance exchange, withdrew its request to sell unsubsidized health plans to people who are here illegally. The withdrawal was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.
