President Donald Trump has a radical new plan to solve the country’s healthcare crisis. He wants to send funds currently going to health insurers directly to Americans so they can buy their own coverage. The proposal aims to overhaul the current subsidy model and shifts the spotlight away from insurance companies and back onto individuals. And the crowning jewel? The president says that he has even been talking to Democrats about his idea, and that they’re buying in on it.

Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach, FLa. on Sunday, Trump said that he had “personal talks with some Democrats about paying large amount of dollars back to the people.” According to The Hill, his talk with the reporters came just before he had to return to Washington.

He continued, “The insurance companies are making a fortune.” Adding, “Their stock is up over a thousand percent over a short period of time. They are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not really putting it back, certainly like they should.”

Trump claimed that the Democrats that he had already spoken to “love it,” though he didn’t name names and offered few policy details. Trump’s suggestion is to allow individuals to use funds more freely and negotiate costs themselves, rather than being locked into plans chosen by insurers.

The POTUS was of course referring to the insurance system that allows insurance firms to collect “hundreds of billions of dollars” from federal subsidies while ordinary Americans struggle to afford care.

Of course, this is not the first time that President Trump is sharing his idea with the public, though this is the first time that he revealed that he has already got some Democrats on board.

On November 8, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the hundreds of billions of dollars currently being sent to money sucking insurance companies … BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE, and have money left over.”

Support is starting to bubble within GOP ranks. Senators like Lindsey Graham and Rick Scott backed the idea of redirecting funds from insurers to consumers.

Graham took to X, writing that the president’s recommendation to “send that money directly to the people so they can buy better healthcare is simply brilliant.” Scott also took to social media, penning that the money should be given “directly to Americans in HSA-style accounts and let them buy the health care they want. This will increase competition & drive down costs.”

But Democrats, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, and health-care experts warn the plan is poorly defined and could unravel protections built into the Affordable Care Act, per The Guardian. They say redirecting subsidies without safeguards risks making coverage unaffordable and unstable. 

Meanwhile, the enlarged ACA marketplace subsidies are due to expire at the end of 2025. If extended, they could help some 24 million Americans avoid steep premium hikes. But, according to Reuters, Republican lawmakers are divided on whether to extend or replace them. 

For now, Trump’s model remains largely conceptual. No detailed blueprint has been released. And the plan deepens the divide on something as important as healthcare costs for millions of Americans.