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Trump unveils health-care plan outline as Congress wrestles over Obamacare subsidies
U.S. President Donald Trump, in front of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., delivers remarks at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., Sept. 22, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Thursday rolled out the broad outline of a health-care plan that the White House claims will lower drug prices and insurance premiums.
The announcement came as a congressional effort to extend key Affordable Care Act tax credits faces headwinds from Senate Republicans, leaving millions at risk of seeing their health insurance premiums spike.
The Trump administration dubbed the initiative “The Great Healthcare Plan,” the president said in a video unveiling the policy Thursday morning.
“I’m calling on Congress to pass this framework into law without delay,” Trump said. “Have to do it right now.”
The plan would codify the deals Trump recently struck with major drugmakers to slash the cost of certain prescription drugs in the U.S. by pegging them to lower prices abroad, as part of his “most-favored-nation” policy.
More than a dozen pharmaceutical companies agreed to lower prices on certain products for Medicaid patients in exchange for a three-year exemption from tariffs.
As part of those deals, companies also agreed to sell some medicines at a discount on Trump’s direct-to-consumer platform, Trump Rx.
Trump, in his video announcement, said those lower drug prices will take effect on the platform when it launches this month. He claimed that those prices would plunge by as much as 500%, even though that would mean prices would fall far below $0.
The health-care framework would “make more verified safe pharmaceutical drugs available for over-the-counter purchase,” according to a White House fact sheet.
It would also purportedly send money for health insurance coverage “directly to the American people” instead of giving “big insurance companies billions in extra taxpayer-funded subsidy payments,” the fact sheet says. Trump has repeatedly floated similar proposals in recent remarks.
The plan would additionally “fund a cost-sharing reduction program,” which the administration says would “reduce the most common Obamacare plan premiums by over 10%.”
Other components of the policy include requiring health insurers to prominently post coverage comparisons “in plain English” on their websites, along with other information about overhead costs and claim denial rates.
It would also require providers who accept either Medicare or Medicaid “to publicly and prominently post their pricing and fees to avoid surprise medical bills.”
The new proposal from the White House comes as senators remain at loggerheads on a deal to extend the now-lapsed ACA, or Obamacare, subsidies. A bipartisan group of senators has been working for weeks on a way forward, but hit a snag recently on language relating to the Hyde Amendment, a statute that bars the use of federal funds for abortion services.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 15, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The White House plan notably leaves out an extension of the ACA subsidies, which Democrats are demanding be extended as a part of any health-care deal. The White House had not publicly put forward a proposal until Thursday, but Trump has repeatedly said he wants funds to go directly to patients rather than insurance companies.
Some negotiators wondered whether the White House plan would hamper negotiations.
“We’ve all known that in order to be able to advance something, we’re going to have to have buy-in from the White House,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, one of the negotiators, told reporters Thursday. “Does this set things back if he signals that he does not support extending [the subsidies]? I mean, that’s the basis of our plan here.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who is leading talks on the Democratic side, said Thursday that she hadn’t yet seen the Trump plan, but signaled optimism about the discussions.
“Most of the areas have agreement, so what we need to do is get bill text together and then get final sign-off so that we can talk to our colleagues about what we’re proposing,” Shaheen told reporters.
A White House official on Thursday said the plan does not close the door on extending the subsidies, but lays out the president’s preferences.
“This does not specifically address those bipartisan congressional negotiations that are going on,” the White House official said. “It does say that we have a preference that money goes to people, as opposed to insurance companies.”
Thomas Fuller | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
UniQure needs to run another study to prove that its gene therapy “actually helps people with Huntington’s disease,” a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said on a call with reporters Thursday.
The official, who requested anonymity before discussing sensitive information, confirmed the agency has asked the company to run a placebo controlled trial of its treatment, which is administered directly into the brain. UniQure has said that type of study isn’t ethical because it would require putting people under general anesthesia for hours, a characterization the official disputed.
“So what is really going on? UniQure is the latest company to make a failed therapy for Huntington’s patients,” the official said. “They likely acknowledge or understand at some deep level that their trial failed years ago, and instead of doing the right thing and running the correct clinical study, UniQure is performing a distorted or manipulated comparison in the mind of FDA.”
The comments mark the latest development in a messy public spat between UniQure and the FDA, and as the agency comes under fire for a number of recent drug approval application rejections, including some where companies have accused it of going back on previous guidance. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick last week seemingly criticized UniQure’s gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. Makary didn’t name UniQure but described its treatment.
UniQure then accused the FDA of reversing its stance that the company’s clinical trial data would be sufficient to seek approval. UniQure’s study used an outside database to measure how patients with Huntington’s disease might decline without treatment, known as an external control. UniQure has said it wouldn’t be feasible to run a true randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, considered the gold standard, because it wouldn’t be ethical to make people undergo a sham hours-long brain surgery.
The FDA official said the agency “never agreed to accept this distorted comparison” and the FDA “never makes such assurances.” Instead, the “FDA will always say, ‘Well, we have to see the data when we get it.'”
UniQure didn’t immediately comment.
The company’s stock rose more than 10% on Thursday and has fallen 58% this year as of Thursday afternoon.
Business
US mortgage rates rise to 6% after three-week slide as oil-driven bond yields climb – The Times of India
The average long-term US mortgage rate edged higher this week, ending a three-week decline as bond yields rose amid oil-price pressures linked to the war with Iran.The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 6% from 5.98% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said on Thursday. A year ago, the average rate stood at 6.63%, AP reported.The modest uptick breaks a three-week slide in borrowing costs, with mortgage rates having hovered close to the 6% mark for most of this year. Last week’s average had marked the first time the rate dipped below 6% since September 2022, reaching its lowest level in nearly three and a half years.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy, investor expectations about inflation and economic growth, and movements in the bond market.They typically track the direction of the 10-year US Treasury yield, which lenders use as a benchmark for pricing home loans.The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.14% at midday Thursday, up from around 4% a week earlier.Treasury yields have moved higher in recent days as rising oil prices added fresh inflation concerns, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve’s plans to cut interest rates.
Business
US stocks today: Dow tumbles 800 points, S&P 500 and Nasdaq slip as oil surges after Iran tanker strike – The Times of India
US stock markets fell on Thursday as investors turned cautious after the previous session’s rally, while rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions weighed on sentiment.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 801 points, or 1.6 per cent, dragged down by losses in stocks such as Caterpillar and Goldman Sachs. The S&P 500 declined 0.9 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6 per cent.The selloff came as crude oil prices jumped to their highest level since June 2025 after Iran said it had struck an oil tanker with a missile. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures surged 6 per cent to trade above $79 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude futures rose about 3 per cent to more than $84 per barrel. Oil prices had stabilised in the previous trading session.Markets had rallied on Wednesday, supported by gains in technology and semiconductor stocks. The Dow had snapped a three-day losing streak, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended the session with solid gains.Despite the ongoing US-Israeli air campaign against Iran, US markets have performed relatively better than European and Asian counterparts this week, largely supported by a rebound in technology stocks that had been hit hard during February’s selloff.The tech-led recovery in the previous session helped the Nasdaq erase its weekly losses, putting the index on track to end the week in positive territory if gains hold through Friday.Investors remain concerned that prolonged disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a key global energy corridor –could push oil prices higher and add to inflationary pressures through rising energy and shipping costs.Markets are particularly wary of crude prices moving towards $100 per barrel, which could complicate the Federal Reserve’s efforts to control inflation while considering interest-rate cuts.“For the past couple of years, bringing inflation down has been the Fed’s entire focus, and they were finally making progress. But if energy stays expensive, inflation could start climbing again and that would force the Fed to rethink its plans,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments, Reuters quoted.According to data compiled by LSEG, investors are increasingly expecting the Federal Reserve to delay a 25-basis-point interest rate cut to September from the previously anticipated July timeline.Among sectors, healthcare led declines on the S&P 500, dropping 1.6 per cent. The energy index, however, gained 0.7 per cent, with shares of ConocoPhillips and Valero Energy rising about 2 per cent each.The CBOE volatility index (VIX), widely seen as a gauge of market fear, rose 0.9 points to 22.08, reflecting cautious investor sentiment. The small-cap Russell 2000 index fell 1 per cent.Travel and tourism stocks, which are sensitive to fuel costs, were under pressure. Delta Air Lines slipped 3.3 per cent, while Royal Caribbean Cruises declined 0.6 per cent.On the other hand, some travel booking companies rallied sharply. Booking Holdings jumped 11 per cent and Expedia surged 8 per cent after a report by The Information said OpenAI was scaling back on-platform shopping checkout plans for ChatGPT, easing concerns about disruption to online marketplace businesses.Chip stocks showed mixed performance. Nvidia edged down 0.3 per cent, while Marvell Technology gained 1.3 per cent.Shares of Broadcom rose 2.9 per cent after the chip designer projected that its artificial intelligence chip revenue could exceed $100 billion next year.Elsewhere, Trade Desk surged 22.5 per cent following a report that OpenAI had held early discussions with the advertising technology company regarding the sale of advertisements.Economic data released on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits remained unchanged last week.Investors are also awaiting remarks from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Michelle Bowman later in the day, ahead of the closely watched non-farm payrolls report due on Friday.On the New York Stock Exchange, declining stocks outnumbered advancers by a ratio of 2.48-to-1, while on the Nasdaq the ratio stood at 1.63-to-1.The S&P 500 recorded four new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite registered 17 new highs and 33 new lows.
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