Soon after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, he issued an executive order giving the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies the authority and discretion to scale back certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare.

What comes clearly out from the order notes is that the President intends to “seek the prompt repeal” of ACA.

However, it might not so easy to remove some aspects while keeping others as the law’s parts are interdependent.

Reading the one-page order what stands out is that the Federal agencies can now implement changes (“to the maximum extent permitted by law”) that could grant that flexibility long asked to the Obama administration by insurers and states.

By this executive order  federal agencies  can change, delay or waive provisions of the law that they consider overly costly for insurers, drug makers, doctors, patients or states and have to work to“create a more free and open health care market.”

In the executive order, it is also asked to not enforce the penalty, sometimes called a “shared responsibility payment,” and other ACA-related taxes. As currently implemented Affordable Care Act requires taxpayers have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.The Trump administration could interpret the requirement  in a more soft way, so that more people would not be penalized. Since 2010 insurance company executives have complained that federal insurance regulations were too onerous.

If the Trump admnistratio wil be able to ease those rules the individual insurance market  will be more attractive to insurers, keeping them more willing to stay or even better to return to it, giving to consumers more health plans to choose from.

Source: The New York Times