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President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order (EO) to improve Medicare for senior citizens all across the nation. 

Liberal members of Congress and Democrats running for president have been obsessed with implementing a complete government takeover of the U.S. healthcare system, a plan they disingenuously call “Medicare for All.” The Democrat party’s plan would lead to 22 million American seniors losing their Medicare Advantage coverage and would kick 180 million Americans off of their private coverage. The left’s radical plan would destroy Medicare and the American healthcare system as we know it. 

President Trump has rightly stood against socialized medicine during his time in office. The Trump administration has consistently focused on expanding choice and increasing access for American healthcare consumers. Most notably, Trump opened up new insurance options through association health plans, short-term plans, and health reimbursement arrangements, some of which save consumers up to 60 percent on their healthcare costs. Trump has also increased Medicare Advantage plan choices by nearly 1200 over the past two years. 

Trump’s new EO builds on this success in several crucial ways. The EO directs the Department of Health and Human Services to take actions that will shore up Medicare for generations to come. Specifically, the EO:

  • Provides patients with more choices by directing the HHS Secretary to propose new guidelines to revitalize the existing system. These guidelines would foster more innovative benefit structures and plan designs, develop a new Center for Medicare & Medicare Innovation payment model for additional supplemental benefits and savings, and protect Medicare Advantage plans. Expanding patient choice is critical in allowing healthcare consumers to choose the plan and benefits that best suit their personal situation. 

  • Directs the HHS Secretary to eliminate unnecessary burdens on healthcare providers, like excessive billing requirements, conditions of participation, and all licensure burdens that are more stringent than state law. This will allow medical providers to spend more time with patients and less time with frivolous paperwork and contending with unnecessary regulations. 

  • Encourages innovation by directing the HHS Secretary to streamline the approval process to bring innovative products to market faster. Any new products, including breakthrough medical devices and lifesaving technology, will be consistent with patient safety, market-driven principles, and value as determined by patients. 

  • Roots out waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare by directing the HHS Secretary to propose annual changes to the system. 

  • Maximizes freedom for Medicare patients and providers by allowing seniors who choose not to receive benefits under Medicare Part A to maintain their Social Security benefits. 

Instead of the anti-patient government takeover of healthcare that the radical left is pushing, President Trump is rightfully charting a path forward for Americans that expands healthcare access and promotes patient choice. Trump’s new EO is the latest addition in a long line of his administration’s pro-patient healthcare accomplishments.