President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing federal agencies to pursue sweeping regulatory changes to the health-care system, the administration’s first move in what it promises will be an extended campaign to weaken the Affordable Care Act without Congress.
.. The order directs agencies to ease rules that allow small businesses, and possibly individuals, to band together in arrangements called “association health plans,” letting them buy cheaper, less-comprehensive plans outside the ACA market.
.. Critics say these new options would drain the ACA market of younger, healthier customers, sending costs soaring for older and sicker people who remain in the regulated market. And if those healthier people do get sick, the critics say, they may find their coverage inadequate.
.. “Having failed to repeal the law in Congress, the president is sabotaging the system, using a wrecking ball to single-handedly rip apart our health-care system,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). “This order couldn’t be further from the ‘great health care’ the president promised.”