Trump Announces 'Great Healthcare Plan' Targeting Insurance Companies at GOP Convention
The proposal adds healthcare to a crowded second-term legislative agenda, though no bill text, cost estimate, or congressional cosponsors have been made public as of the speech date.
President Donald Trump announced plans to pursue legislation he called 'the Great Healthcare plan' during remarks at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on September 9, 2026, according to prepared remarks reviewed by the New York Post. The president described the measure as targeting insurance companies, though the specific regulatory or statutory mechanisms were not detailed in the prepared remarks.
Trump also indicated plans to make existing executive actions on prescription drug pricing permanent through legislation, and to address surprise medical billing. Surprise medical billing refers to charges patients receive from out-of-network providers involved in care at in-network facilities, a practice Congress previously addressed in the No Surprises Act, signed into law in December 2021 (Public Law 116-260).
No bill text had been filed in either the House or Senate as of September 10, 2026, according to the congressional record available through Congress.gov. No committee chairman in either chamber had publicly announced a markup schedule for the described legislation as of the date of publication.
The administration did not provide a specific timetable for introducing or passing the measure, according to the New York Post report. The source material states that Trump's 'exact timetable for getting the Great Healthcare plan passed through Congress is not immediately clear.'
Healthcare legislation has historically required extended negotiation in Congress. The Affordable Care Act took approximately fourteen months from introduction to enactment in 2010. The Republican-led effort to repeal and replace the ACA in 2017 did not pass the Senate after months of floor debate, with the final procedural vote failing 49 to 51 on July 28, 2017, according to the Senate roll call record (Roll Call Vote 115th Congress, 1st Session, Vote No. 168).
Trump's Dallas convention speech also addressed the November 2026 midterm elections. Republicans currently hold the House majority, and control of that chamber will be determined in the November elections. The legislative viability of any healthcare proposal would depend significantly on the composition of the next Congress.
The insurance industry is represented in federal lobbying primarily through America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, both of which file quarterly lobbying disclosure reports under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. Their most recent disclosures, covering the second quarter of 2026, are available through the Senate Office of Public Records. Those filings would show which specific legislative vehicles, if any, the industry has monitored or engaged on related to the described proposal. No lobbying activity specific to 'the Great Healthcare plan' was listed in those disclosures, as the proposal had not been publicly named prior to the Dallas speech.
On prescription drug pricing, the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) authorized Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers for the first time, beginning with ten drugs in 2026. The Trump administration's approach to that existing authority, and whether the referenced legislation would modify, extend, or replace it, was not specified in the prepared remarks cited by the New York Post.
The administration's healthcare agenda is also relevant to ongoing congressional budget negotiations. Any legislation that changes insurance market rules or drug pricing carries a fiscal score under congressional budget procedures, which would be determined by the Congressional Budget Office. No CBO score has been requested or published for a measure matching the described proposal, as no bill has been introduced.
What remains unknown includes the bill's specific language, its proposed regulatory mechanism for 'cracking down on insurance companies,' the cost or savings estimate, the identity of the primary congressional sponsors, and the committee of jurisdiction designated to advance the measure. A bill introduction in either chamber, available on Congress.gov, would answer the first three questions. Committee referral records would answer the fourth.