Trump Getting Serious On Affordability
There was a clear sign today that the Trump administration is worried about the impact of the lack of healthcare affordability. The Trump administration created a top-level healthcare position that will be a de facto affordability czar. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has named Casey Mulligan as chief economist and chief regulatory officer of the agency. He’ll advise Kennedy and other agency leaders on affordability issues.
Mulligan was on the Council of Economic Advisers during the first Trump administration and was most recently the U.S. Small Business Administration’s chief counsel for advocacy.
Meanwhile, healthcare policy group KFF issued a briefer on Americans’ views of healthcare. Just under half of U.S. adults say it is difficult to afford healthcare costs, and about three in ten say they or a family member in their household had problems paying for healthcare in the past 12 months. Further, 36% of adults say that they have skipped or postponed getting healthcare they needed because of cost. About 75% of uninsured adults under age 65 say they went without needed care because of cost.
KFF also just added an employer insurance chapter to its online resource on healthcare. It dives deep into all things employer coverage.
Additional articles: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/health-policy-101-employer-sponsored-health-insurance/?entry=table-of-contents-resources and https://www.kff.org/health-costs/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/
#affordability #healthcare #healthcarereform #coverage
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/16/hhs-health-care-affordability-midterms
— Marc S. Ryan
