Trump 2026: Healthcare Changes To Expect in Trump’s Second Year of His Second Term
Written by
J. Arky
Edited by
Levi Leidy
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What’s next for Americans’ healthcare?
During his campaign for a second term in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump seemed to have a hard time defining just exactly what his plan was for American healthcare. Now, one year into his current term, Trump has rolled out the “Great Health Care Plan” in conjunction with his “One Big Beautiful Bill” in 2025. What does this mean for Americans and their healthcare?
GOBankingRates reached out to several experts to project where healthcare is going in Trump’s second year of his second term, including how the current administration’s healthcare policies changes will impact every American’s medical bills and access to care in 2026.
Medicaid and Medicare
When it comes to Medicare and Medicaid, reimbursement rates are set to change under the Trump administration, according to Kiara DeWitt, head of clinical operations at Medical Director Co.
“There will be tighter scrutiny around qualifying needs and increased price-sharing amounts,” DeWitt explained. “Medicare Part B premiums will likely increase by an average of the consumer price index +2%. Let’s say inflation is at 3%… Premiums can increase by 5%. If this occurs, the majority of older Americans will feel this increase in their pockets.”
TrumpRx
Dr. James J. Chao, the co-founder and chief medical officer of VedaNu Wellness, described how President Trump’s biggest initiative for healthcare this year will be TrumpRx, a program that allows patients to purchase medication straight from the source, which in this case is the company of TrumpRx.
“Essentially, this dismantles the pharmaceutical benefit manager and redirects the bill to the patient,” Chao went on to say. “If you are a user of Lantus, Truvada or Ozempic, you could save anywhere from 50%-80% of out-of-pocket costs if you didn’t swipe your insurance card. However, you’ll have to deal with customer service yourself, kind of like booking your own flight. The intention is for patients to truly pay for their own care.”
Hospital Price Transparency
DeWitt forecasted that the accountability of hospital price transparency will be slowly lifted during the second year of Trump 2.0.
“The rules won’t change, but hospitals will be less heavily scrutinized for noncompliance. This will lead to increased dynamic pricing, surprise facility fees and intentionally vague bundled billing codes,” noted DeWitt, urging all Americans to always ask for itemized bills from hospitals and fight any charges labeled “NC” or “non-covered services.”
HSA Instability
In Chao’s words, health savings accounts (HSAs) are “exploding” in 2026 under the Trump administration. That’s because for the first time ever Americans are not locked into inflated premium plans to qualify for an HSA, leaving them with a basic plan, as well as an HSA, which could be “catastrophic.”
“Instead of paying premiums you can use pre-tax dollars to pay for almost anything,” Chao commented. “Yes, that includes routine labs, telemedicine visits and even some elective cosmetic procedures. Essentially this makes receiving healthcare resemble a cash economy. This isn’t a novel concept; we’ve operated this way in cosmetic medicine for over 15 years. Now it will be mainstream.”
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