President Trump shared a text message from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) regarding so-called Association Health Plans that “allow individuals to buy collectively health insurance via Costco, Amazon, or Sam’s Club.” “I know we have been at odds recently but in ur first term you signed an executive order to legalize Association Health Plans,” the text message read. “This collaboration brought us together and still holds the promise of lowering insurance premiums. It did not succeed because Dem AG’s fought it in court. We could pass it in Congress today, with ur help,” it continued. “It costs nothing and simply changes labor law to allow people to buy insurance as a group from retailers. Let me know if this is something you might want to partner on,” the message added. Full Text: Newsmax shared: Trump’s post comes soon after Republican Reps. Rick Allen of Georgia and Jodey Arrington of Texas announced their “Healthy Competition for Better Care Act,” which they say would promote “transparency in health care,” crack down on anti-competitive practices, and remove restrictions that prevent competition in health care markets. Echoing Paul’s concerns, the Allen-Arrington bill argues that increased competition in the health insurance industry is necessary to restore “access to quality care” for Americans. “Americans are paying too much for too little health care,” Arrington said in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation puts hardworking families first, ensures fair competition, and puts patients, not bureaucrats, back in charge of their health care.” “Joined @BloombergTV to discuss my healthcare plan: HSAs for all, buying insurance across state lines, and real negotiating power for millions of Americans through places like Costco, Amazon, and Sam’s Club,” Paul said. “President Trump and I worked on this before, and I’m ready to work with him again to fix our broken system,” he added. Joined @BloombergTV to discuss my healthcare plan: HSAs for all, buying insurance across state lines, and real negotiating power for millions of Americans through places like Costco, Amazon, and Sam’s Club. President Trump and I worked on this before, and I’m ready to work with… pic.twitter.com/MNqAmClkxy — Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 3, 2025 Paul wrote in an op-ed for Newsweek: Obamacare costs the taxpayers billions of dollars and costs every individual thousands of dollars a year in increased premiums. As conservatives, including myself, warned in the debate over Obamacare, subsidizing insurance simply increases demand and therefore increases the price of health insurance. Where once there existed the choice of a higher deductible plan with lower premiums, now Obamacare plans offer high deductibles and high premiums. Any semblance of a functioning individual health insurance market has been eliminated, as government health insurance or employers are the only real source of coverage for nearly all Americans. My health care plan, called the Health Marketplace and Savings Accounts For All Act, which I will introduce this week, does two things and costs the taxpayers nothing. First, my plan legalizes the ability for any group to purchase insurance collectively and operate across state lines. My plan would make it legal for Costco, Sam’s Club, or Amazon to bargain for their millions of members as a single entity, thereby driving prices down. These collectives could be bigger than any corporation in America and have the size and leverage to drive health premiums down. In fact, once these co-ops are legalized, the individual market likely melts away, and everyone in America would gain the benefits that normally accrue to the group market. My plan is the only plan being offered that would drive prices down. All other plans, such as the Democrat plan to continue the add-on subsidies to the original Obamacare subsidies, will continue to drive up health insurance premiums. All Republican variations of these plans only vary in their cost to the taxpayer. Some in the GOP want to simply give the fully expanded Obamacare subsidies to individuals’ Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Which, in reality, will be a distinction without a difference. It will cost the taxpayers the same amount and simply serve as a pit stop for the money before it inevitably flows to the insurance companies. Other compliant Republicans are offering variations on this theme. Some in the GOP want to give the Obamacare subsidies (minus the pandemic add-on) to individuals’ HSAs. This plan will do nothing to lower insurance premiums and puts its Republican supporters on the record as supporting Obamacare subsidies.