President Trump will travel to Florida on Thursday to discuss his health care agenda and sign an executive order on Medicare, the White House announced Friday.
Trump will give the speech at The Villages, a massive retirement community to appeal to older voters in the swing state in the 2020 election.
{mosads}Democrats, even amid their newly-opened impeachment inquiry of Trump, are touting health care as a key election issue, which Trump has sought to counter by making announcements on the issue of his own.
Trump will sign an “Executive Order in relation to protecting and improving the Medicare program in the United States,” while there, the White House said. The executive order is expected to make relatively minor changes to the program, but it also allows Trump to contrast his views with Democrats’ “Medicare for All” plans. Attacking Medicare for All is a key part of Trump’s campaign against Democrats.
Trump may also discuss his efforts to lower drug prices. Florida’s GOP Governor, Ron DeSantis, is pushing the Trump administration to be granted approval to allow imports of cheaper drugs from Canada, something Trump has spoken favorably of, a break from the traditional GOP line.
In July, the administration took a preliminary step towards allowing some drug imports, but several steps remain before any cheaper imported drugs actually start making their way to consumers.
The administration has been touting a range of health care actions, from drug prices, to price transparency, to fighting HIV. But Trump has also signaled his desire to return to the fight over ObamaCare.
Trump told ABC News in June that he would be releasing an ObamaCare replacement plan in about two months, but the administration has not released a plan yet.
Democrats point to the administration’s backing of a lawsuit making its way through the courts seeking to overturn all of ObamaCare, something some GOP lawmakers have distanced themselves from.
Trump’s health care speech at The Villages was originally scheduled for August, but was delayed after mass shootings.