What Donald Trump has done with the biggest budget in Washington

IF YOUR only source of information on Donald Trump’s record on health care was his state-of-the-union address, you would conclude that the president is hellbent on three things. The first is protecting patients with pre-existing medical conditions from insurers who would like to be rid of them. The second is making sure that illegal immigrants do not have access to subsidised health care. The third is bringing down the cost of prescription drugs.

But the president’s own words are not always the best guide to what the president does. He came to office promising to repeal Obamacare but failed to do so, and then lost control of the House of Representatives, and with it the opportunity to have another go. That does not mean his administration has done nothing, though. Presidents can have a lot of influence over American health care through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an organisation that is much more interesting than it sounds.