And we have the result. USA has played its trump card, Donald Trump has become the 45th US President and it’s unnecessary to say, things will be pretty different. The question which we are interested in, how this will impact the Healthcare industry of USA and the world.
The USA is more likely to see some changes in Affordable Care Act, for e.g. changes in premium subsidies, mental health coverage or pregnancy coverage etc. Though Trump hasn’t released many ideas about his plan around Affordable Care Act but he did propose four things which are,
Medical Underwriting
There will be no more guaranteed issue insurance and health insurance will become medically underwritten. The good part is this will bring down the costing but this will only benefit people who are healthy. People who fall ill will face more issues in terms of costing.
State Lines Insurance Selling
Some states used to provide coverages which used to be costlier as these coverages used to cover broad protections. But now Insurer from a state, which provides minimum protection and hence is cheaper, can sell its policies in a state which has broad protections. In a nutshell people now can buy cheaper policies with less protections.
Tax deductible health insurance
Till this time health insurance tax deduction could only be enjoyed by people who had purchased their health insurance through an employer or if they are self-employed. But now under Trump’s rule all health insurances can be tax deductible.
Transparency in Medical Billing
Gone are the days when people used to doubt medical bills and their honesty. Now all healthcare providers will have to provide complete transparency in their medical bills.
Impact on UAE Healthcare
So it’s wise to say threat there will be significant changes in the USA healthcare industry and since it’s a whole eco-system, this change might impact the UAE pharma market as well.
Also as Donald Trump made it pretty clear that he would lift entry barriers for foreign drugs in USA as he wants USA people to enjoy better drugs made abroad, this might benefit UAE Pharma market. UAE pharma market is aiming to reach $5.7 Billion by 2020, UAE might and should take this opportunity to make it big in USA market.