Although health care didn't play a prominent a role in the election, the incoming administration is bound to shake things up when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
During his campaign, Trump vowed to reshape health care by taking actions that would cut prescription drug prices and scale back federal health programs like the Affordable Care Act, but he never revealed any detailed plans on how he would effect change.
Voters weren't exactly motived by health care this election cycle, either. According to an Associated Press survey, only 8% of voters ranked health care as the top issue facing the country.
In any event, analysts say the Trump Administration's broad policy agenda essentially boils down to deregulating markets and expanding choice and competition to keep costs down for consumers and taxpayers -- even if that means the number of uninsured people could balloon by millions.
Here are some of the more pressing health care issues Trump will face in his new term.
Affordable Care Act
After unsuccessfully trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) several times during his first term in office, Trump has vowed to make the policy "better" and "less expensive." He's also claimed to have "concepts of a plan" that would provide "better health care than Obamacare," without offering further details.
A major change expected to happen with the ACA will leave millions of people at risk of losing subsidies that help with the cost of health care. The enhanced subsidies for people who buy health insurance through the ACA Marketplace -- originally passed in the 2021 American Rescue Plan and extended by the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 -- expire at the end of 2025.
"If Republicans end up winning the House, in addition to the Senate and White House, having a GOP sweep, I think the odds are less than 5% they get extended," Chris Meekins, a former senior HHS official in Trump's first term, told NBC News.
The subsidies increase the amount of financial help available to those already eligible for assistance under the ACA and were expanded to middle-income people, many of whom were previously priced out of coverage.
About 15.5 million people are currently receiving the enhanced subsidies, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health care policy research group. If the subsidies aren't extended, it would immediately impact 4 million people who would lose coverage because they won't be able to afford it on their own, the group predicted. Millions more would lose coverage in the following years.
"If the Inflation Reduction Act's enhanced subsidies expire, the Congressional Budget Office expects ACA Marketplace enrollment to drop sharply from an estimated 22.8 million in 2025 to 18.9 million the following year," KFF said, adding that enrollment would continue to fall in subsequent years, reaching as low as 15.4 million in 2030.
"What we're looking at is significant increases in what people pay for their premiums. It's going to average more than 75% increase. For some people, it will be more than double," Cynthia Cox, director of the program on the ACA at KFF, told NBC News.
At the same time, the Congressional Budget Office estimates it would cost $335 billion over 10 years to make the subsidies permanent, KFF noted.
"Make America Healthy Again"
While its not clear who will take over the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to have a large role in the new Trump administration. At a campaign event on Oct. 27, Trump told the crowd he was going to let Kennedy "go wild on health."
"I'm going to let him go wild on the food. I'm going to let him go wild on the medicines," Trump said.
On the day after the election, Kennedy suggested that Trump wants him to "clean up the corruption" in agencies like the Food and Drug Administration.
"President Trump has asked me to do three things," he posted on X. "1. Clean up the corruption in our government health agencies. 2. Return those agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science. 3. Make America Healthy Again by ending the chronic disease epidemic."
Medicare and Medicaid
Trump has promised to protect Medicare and focus on regulatory requirements that would lower the price of Medicare prescription drugs. His plans for Medicaid are less known and some predict the administration could try to revamp the way its funded entirely, which could lead to cuts and more expenses for millions.