WASHINGTON, D.C., October 12, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – President Trump signed an executive order today knocking down part of Obamacare by making it easier for people to get cheaper health insurance plans.
Trump’s order is “aimed at letting small businesses band together across state lines to buy cheaper, less regulated health plans for their employees with fewer benefits,” according to Reuters.
“The new, less regulated insurance plans could provide an attractive alternative to consumers who don’t expect to have large medical bills and who are frustrated with the high premiums they pay for policies today,” according to The Huffington Post. The executive order “would undermine rules about who and what insurers must cover.”
The complaint many young people have with Obamacare is it forces them to pay more for insurance to cover sicker old people. Obamacare depends on the participation of young, healthy people in its expensive plans.
Under Trump's order, people may be able to purchase health insurance plans that don't cover maternity care and other “essential health benefits.” Critics of Obamacare say only half the population needs maternity care. Proponents of Obamacare say this is one of the bill's strengths.
Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, stood behind Trump as he signed the executive order. Paul is a vocal critic of Obamacare. However, he refused to vote for the most recent legislation repealing it on the grounds it was too weak.
Strongly pro-life Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, was also with Trump as he signed the order.
“One of the realities of the Affordable Care Act is its lack of affordability as costs continue to rise every year because of all the Obamacare mandates,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told LifeSiteNews in a statement.
“Those mandates include life-ending drugs and devices as well as some abortion funding, as proven in court case after court case as nuns and other Americans of faith have had to fight for their Constitutional freedoms,” she explained. “Students for Life of America believes that addressing the coercive mandates is a step in the right direction that should ultimately lead to pulling all tax money away from Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry.”
Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, called the executive order a “monumental step in the right direction.”
“This executive order gives victims of Obamacare greater control of their healthcare options and works to create a more affordable system,” she said.
“Trump's Obamacare exec order tries to undermine literally the most popular part of Obamacare: the part that keeps insurers from screwing you over,” Vox.com editor Ezra Klein tweeted.
Abortion advocates say this effort is an attempt to “sabotage” Obamacare, which was a massive expansion of abortion funding.
“Trump signed an exec order that could allow spread of cheap, loosely-regulated health plans (without) Obamacare protections,” Planned Parenthood tweeted.