Trump Address: Obamacare,

Drug Approvals
By Robert Lowes
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March 1, 2017 -- Addressing a joint session of Congress,
President Donald Trump laid out a now familiar game plan
for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act and
asked Republicans and Democrats to join forces, "get the
job done, and get it done right."
So far, a unified Republican plan to replace and repeal the
act has yet to materialize. Several bills have surfaced in
the Senate; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-WI, has
promised to introduce a measure next month; and the
Trump administration has said it would weigh in with a
proposal.
In the Tuesday night speech, Trump also made a pointed
pitch for cutting government regulation, particularly in the
FDA, for the sake of developing new drugs. Noting that it
was Rare Disease Day, he called attention to a 21-year-
old woman named Megan Crowley in the Capitol gallery
who was diagnosed with Pompe disease as an infant and
not expected to live past age 5.
The congenital disorder is also called glycogen storage
disease type II. Crowley's father was instrumental in
developing a drug that allowed her to grow up to attend
the University of Notre Dame.
"Megan's story is about the unbounded power of a
father's love for a daughter," Trump said. "But our slow
and burdensome approval process at the [FDA] keeps too
many advances, like the one that saved Megan's life, from
reaching those in need. If we slash the restraints, not just
at the FDA, but across our government, then we will be
blessed with far more miracles just like Megan."
Trump, who has not yet nominated a commissioner for
the FDA, has said that as much as 75% of all government
regulation could be erased without harm to society, a
claim some have called unrealistic.

Guiding Principles for a Replacement Plan

Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have been
discussing elements of a plan to repeal and replace
the Affordable Care Act for weeks. On Tuesday night, the
president pulled many of them together:

A replacement plan should first ensure that people

with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage,
and that "we have a stable transition for Americans
currently enrolled in the health care exchanges."

The federal government should help Americans buy

the coverage they want -- "not the plan forced on
them by our government" -- with the help of tax
credits and expanded health savings accounts.

More control of Medicaid should be shifted from the

federal government to the states. "We should give
our state governors the resources and flexibility they
need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out,"
Trump said.

Trump appeared to refer to medical liability reform --

now in the works in Congress -- when he spoke of
"legal reforms that protect patients and doctors from
unnecessary costs." In the same breath, he called for
efforts to "bring down the artificially high price of
drugs."
 Allowing the sale of health insurance across state
lines, he said, will create more competition that will
lower costs and improve care.