Trump signs US health care executive orders that may have little impact
- Trump signed the twin orders implementing his ‘America First Health Care Plan’ in North Carolina to an audience that included medical professionals
- The Trump administration also set out new rules allowing US states and territories to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada
Trump signed the twin orders implementing his “America First Health Care Plan” in an airport hangar in Charlotte, North Carolina, to an audience that included medical professionals.
“Under my plan, 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing US$200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs,” Trump said in describing part of his programme.
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Trump said he expected an even deeper reduction in drug prices from an earlier executive order capping Medicare drug prices at the lowest level paid by other rich nations. Drug companies and experts have questioned whether that executive order is practical and can withstand expected legal challenges.
One of Thursday’s executive orders is aimed at ensuring Americans with pre-existing conditions retain health care coverage, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters, even as his own administration seeks to end the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which protects the same right.
Azar also said Trump was directing him via the second executive order to work with Congress to pass legislation banning surprise health care bills by the beginning of next year, and explore executive action if the legislative bid fails.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, labelled the effort “bogus”, as she called on the president to “drop his lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic”.
While Trump heralded his actions, some lawyers expressed scepticism that he had the authority to make the move by executive order.
Nicholas Bagley, a professor at University of Michigan’s law school, said: “Unless there’s a law that prohibits the conduct in question, or unless the president is exercising a power that’s been delegated to him by Congress, his statements have no more legal weight than a tweet.”
Trump lags Democratic rival and former vice-president Joe Biden in national opinion polls, especially on the question of who would better handle health care.
The president’s action, unveiled less than six weeks before Election Day on November 3, also comes amid long-standing criticisms that he has failed to follow through on promises to propose an alternative to Obamacare even as he works to dismantle that program.
Trump also has drawn fire for his administration’s response to the deadly coronavirus, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans.
In June, the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to invalidate the Obamacare law that added millions to the health care safety net.
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The Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, prohibited health insurers from denying coverage to Americans with known health conditions.
Surprise bills occur when patients visit a hospital they believe is in their health insurance network but then are seen by a doctor or specialist who is out of network. Trump previously called on Congress to address the issue in 2019.
“What the president is saying is that all the relevant players – hospitals, doctors, insurance companies – had better get their act together, and get legislation passed through Congress that protects patients against surprise medical bills,” Azar said.
