President Trump noted on Truth Social a quote from the Cato Institute’s Michael F. Cannon on how to fix healthcare in America. Trump posted:

This is according to Michael F. Cannon, Director of Healthcare Policy at the CATO Institute:

“Don’t extend the ObamaCare subsidies — Would be like making ObamaCare permanent. You have to stop talking about it now. Tell Congress, ‘I want to make permanent those Rules that I put into place in 2018, giving people access to ObamaCare exempt planning’ — Because then Premiums will FALL, by 50% or more, for most people. I want to go back to the three year window where you can get in there for ObamaCare where you won’t pay as much. Don’t expand ObamaCare. Congress must make Trump Rules permanent. These were President Trump’s 2018 Short Term Plans Rule that President Obama terminated. All Congress has to do is say, ‘Look, the Short Term Plans can last up to 36 months, your Insurer can sell you a Renewal Guarantee so it can last even beyond that period, and you will get lower priced Insurance, better Insurance, Longer Term Insurance and, it doesn’t cost Taxpayers a dime or, it won’t destabilize ObamaCare.’ Much simpler than what President Trump’s advisers are selling him, much better to assuage the fears of nervous Democrats, because we had these Rules in place for six years, and ObamaCare did not crater. Subsidies will not solve this problem. Government should be capping what it spends on Healthcare at ZERO. Send them a check. No need for subsidies. Congress has to get out of the way of Private Insurance Companies. Give the money to the Consumers to buy directly from the Health Insurance Companies.”

Cannon responded to Trump’s post with a piece at Cato.org, writing:

The post is broadly faithful to comments I’ve made about how Congress and states should provide relief from Obamacare:

• Don’t renew any expired COVID-19-era subsidies.
• Don’t convert Obamacare premium subsidies into cash subsidies.
• Make universal and permanent the regulatory relief Trump provided in 2018 and President Obama provided in 2014.
• Let consumers control the money.

In my latest paper, I explain that when Obamacare threatened access—like its 26 percent premium hikes do today—both Trump and Obama gave consumers regulatory relief by removing barriers to Obamacare-exempt plans. Trump, in the “short term” market. Obama, by exempting US territories from Obamacare’s costliest regulations.

The Congressional Budget Office found that Trump’s 2018 rule made comprehensive coverage available at premiums 60 percent below those of the cheapest Obamacare plans. The Obamacare-exempt plans often had “lower deductibles or wider provider networks.”

Offering universal, permanent regulatory relief may not disrupt Obamacare as supporters fear. While Trump’s rule was in effect from 2018 to 2024, Obamacare premiums stabilized—spiking only after President Biden revoked the Trump rule.

Read more here.