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[snoop1130]

Trump says he's likely to sign healthcare order this week

By Yasmeen Abutaleb and Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 10, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he likely will sign an order this week that is expected to allow Americans to buy stripped-down health insurance policies, a step some experts say would further undermine the Obamacare law that Trump opposes.

 

Unable to win passage of legislation to dismantle the 2010 law in a Congress led by his own party, Trump indicated he would take unilateral action. He offered few specifics beyond saying his action would let people cross state lines to obtain "great, competitive healthcare" costing the United States "nothing."

 

The expected order would allow small businesses and individuals to band together as associations to buy health insurance plans that would be exempt from some Obamacare requirements. These include mandatory coverage for 10 essential health benefits such as maternity and newborn care, prescription drugs and mental health treatment.

 

It would also expand the amount of time people can use short-term medical insurance plans, which are cheaper than traditional plans but cover a limited set of benefits. People could use those plans for up to a year, compared to three months under current law.

 

"I'll also be signing something, probably this week, which is going to go a long way to take care of many of the people that have been so badly hurt on healthcare," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

 

"With Congress the way it is, I decided to take it upon myself," Trump added, saying the plan is "largely worked out."

 

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump will make his announcement "by the end of Friday."

 

Trump said his action would let insurers sell across state lines. The association health plans, for instance, could be sold from a state with fewer benefit requirements. Such insurance policies could be cheaper than those that provide the full range of medical coverage required under Obamacare, potentially making them attractive to people in other states.

 

It is unclear when these plans would become available. It is unlikely consumers could sign up for these plans during the 2018 open enrollment period, which begins Nov. 1.

 

Experts questioned Trump's authority to issue such an order that would exempt some plans but not others from Obamacare rules rather than pursuing the changes through legislation. The action could open Trump to legal challenges from Democratic state attorneys general, who have said they will sue Trump if he tries to destroy Obamacare.

 

The plans allowed under the order could lure young and healthy people away from the individual insurance markets created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. That could further destabilize those markets, where insurers have already exited the markets altogether, pared back offerings or hiked premiums because of uncertainty caused by the Trump administration.

 

Experts said Trump's plan could leave behind only the sickest people in the Obamacare markets, raising premiums and effectively eroding the law's protection that people with pre-existing medical conditions cannot be charged more.

 

'HURT RATHER THAN HELP'

 

"There's a general belief that at every turn the federal government is going to create regulations to hurt rather than help the markets," said Craig Garthwaite, director of the healthcare program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, referring to the Trump administration.

 

"It unwinds the ability of people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance under the ACA," Garthwaite said.

 

Republicans have failed to make good on their seven-year promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, the signature domestic policy achievement of Trump's Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. Gutting Obamacare was a top Trump campaign promise.

 

Trump, who has called the law a failure and vowed to let it "implode," has undermined Obamacare through regulatory and administrative actions.

 

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule that will let businesses and non-profit organizations lodge religious or moral objections to obtain an exemption from the law's mandate that employers provide birth control for women in health insurance with no co-payment.

 

Trump has declined to commit to making payments guaranteed to insurers under Obamacare. The payments are estimated to be about $7 billion this year and help lower out-of-pocket medical costs for low-income consumers. Insurers have cited that uncertainty in exiting insurance markets or hiking premiums.

 

His administration has slashed the Obamacare advertising budget, halved the open enrollment period and cut funding to groups that help sign people up for insurance under the law.

 

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Jeff Mason; Editing by Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-11

[Slip]

Day by day the need to excise this illness from the poor ol US of A becomes clearer.

[Ulic]

Obama care is bad, Trump care would be even worse. Join the western world

with a single payer system for all American citizens.

[wwest5829]

I cannot fathom why the citizens of the USA have not gotten a bellyful of these regressive Trump ordered actions. Guess they just don't care otherwise they would be taking to the streets in mass to demand changes. Ha! What happened to the accusations of an "imperial" Presidency made during Obama's 8 years when he could not get Congress to act?

[Langsuan Man]

5 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

I cannot fathom why the citizens of the USA have not gotten a bellyful of these regressive Trump ordered actions. Guess they just don't care otherwise they would be taking to the streets in mass to demand changes. Ha! What happened to the accusations of an "imperial" Presidency made during Obama's 8 years when he could not get Congress to act?

What I have never understood is,  if The Affordable Care Act is so bad,  why were there never any demonstrations against it , like there have been on almost EVERY executive order this administration has issued and each  Congressional attempt to repeal it

 

The only people who complain about the Affordable Care Act are the piggy Americans that already have insurance (like Congress) 

[attrayant]

States have been allowed to sell insurance across state lines for almost two years now.  Insurers aren't interested.  

 

Quote

 

Donald Trump had one response when asked about how he would replace ObamaCare at this week’s presidential debate: He’ll allow companies to sell insurance across state lines.

 

The GOP’s decade-old talking point has gained momentum since the healthcare law passed six years ago. But Republicans rarely — if ever — acknowledge that the crux of what they want is already allowed under ObamaCare.

 

[Since January of 2016], states have been legally allowed to let insurers sell plans outside their borders.

Despite the idea’s enduring popularity, no states have signaled interest in the policy, insurance experts and regulators say. 

 

 

Of course he'll claim this as a win.  Big victory.

[Srikcir]

State attorney generals will file suit alleging Presidential Order violates federal law and ask for a temporary restraining order. TRO will be granted until the case is heard in federal court and Trump embarrasses himself once again.

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, Ulic said:

Obama care is bad, Trump care would be even worse. Join the western world

with a single payer system for all American citizens.

I don't get why people don't understand the distinction between universal health care and single payer health care. Plenty of western industrialized nations provide universal health care without a single payer system.

[smotherb]

2 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

I cannot fathom why the citizens of the USA have not gotten a bellyful of these regressive Trump ordered actions. Guess they just don't care otherwise they would be taking to the streets in mass to demand changes. Ha! What happened to the accusations of an "imperial" Presidency made during Obama's 8 years when he could not get Congress to act?

Many, probably most, Americans have had enough of Trump. Many elected officials in the Republican party deride his presidency. However, he still has a base of relatively uninformed masses and the wealthy who will undoubtedly benefit from his actions. He plays to these masses' patriotism and Christian morals; when he never served, belittles his senior military, mocks moral decency, diminishes the Constitution and constantly lies in and/or waffles on his statements. Yet, they still support him.

[ilostmypassword]

The people of West Virginia, Kentucky, etc who were huge supporters of Trump are just going to love this:

Trump to Scrap Critical Health Care Subsidies, Hitting Obamacare Again

President Trump will scrap subsidies to health insurance companies that help pay out-of-pocket costs of low-income people, the White House said late Thursday. His plans were disclosed hours after the president ordered potentially sweeping changes in the nation’s insurance system, including sales of cheaper policies with fewer benefits and fewer protections for consumers.

The twin hits to the Affordable Care Act — on successive days — could unravel President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, sending insurance premiums soaring and insurance companies fleeing from the health law’s online marketplaces. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/us/politics/trump-obamacare-executive-order-health-insurance.html

 

Maybe he's shooting for a 0% approval rating?