Trump picks healthcare leader, plans for healthcare reform

Andrew Bremberg is President-elect Trump’s pick to lead his healthcare reform platform. Bremberg worked in the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) during George W. Bush’s administration, and has spent years serving as a healthcare policy leader for various political campaigns. Bremberg also served on Mitt Romney’s 2012 transition team, where he was part of unsuccessful efforts to repeal the then-two-year-old Affordable Care Act.

President-elect Trump launched his transition website this week (GreatAgain.gov), and one of the first postings is the 309-word sneak peek at his plans for healthcare reform.

The healthcare statement doesn’t contain many details, but does indicate the intent to “to repeal the ACA and replace it with a solution that includes Health Savings Accounts” and to turn over the role of regulating health insurance to the states.

Of the six-bullet list of priorities, three of them involve seniors.

The Administration vows to:

1. Reform the Food and Drug Administration to “to put greater focus on the need of patients for new and innovative medical products”
2. ”Modernize Medicare” to be prepared for a surging senior demographic in future decades
3. Loosen the rules for the administration of state Medicaid, “to enable States to experiment with innovative methods to deliver healthcare to our low-income citizens.”

Meanwhile, existing healthcare agencies and programs, including HHS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, wait to see whose job positions will stay and which employees the new administration intends to replace.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.