Trump’s Executive Order: Can Association Health Plans Accomplish What Congress Could Not?
<p>President Trump has indicated that he will likely sign an executive order to allow individuals and small employers to purchase health insurance across state lines through trade and professional associations. </p><p>In a new post on <em>To the Point</em>, Georgetown University’s Kevin Lucia and Sabrina Corlette explain that, under the order, federal regulators could allow an association health plan to be treated the same as a large employer health plan. If they do so, association plans could become exempt from offering key consumer protections, such as the essential health benefits standard and the prohibition on charging higher premiums to people with preexisting conditions.</p>
<p>The availability of association plans would also raise the risk of higher premiums and fewer plan options in the individual market, as well as increased fraud and insolvency.</p>
<p>“Policymakers looking for backdoor ways to repeal the ACA’s insurance reforms and replacing them with risky products will undermine critical protections for people with preexisting conditions,” the authors say.</p>