A Trump administration effort to make more affordable, short-term medical insurance plans available to more people despite Obamacare's onerous regulations survived a federal court challenge on Friday.
In a ruling for the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., Judge Richard Leon dismissed a challenge to the 2018 regulation brought by a group of organizations offering insurance plans.
In August 2018, the Trump administration announced a regulation that would re-expand the availability of short-term medical insurance plans that are less expensive partly because they are not subject to the same kinds of regulations that make Obamacare-compliant insurance plans so expensive.
Opponents of the plans say that these less expensive plans undermine Obamacare and provide people with spotty coverage.
Since Congress set the Obamacare individual mandate penalty at zero, Judge Leon ruled that the new rule simply helps people who cannot afford skyrocketing insurance costs.
"By modestlyexpanding the utility of less expensive plans, the Rule aims to minimize the harm and expense that would result from these individuals opting to forgo health insurance in the face of rising premiums."
The judge also ruled that the Trump administration was completely within the power afforded to it by federal law to issue the rule, writing, "Congress clearly did not intend for the law to apply to all species of individual health insurance" because the lawmakers who passed it "Were not rigidly pursuing the ACA-compliant market at all costs, e.g., at the risk of individuals going without insurance altogether."
https://www.conservativereview.com/news/federal-judge-sides-trump-rule-allowing-non-obamacare-affordable-insurance-plans/
In a ruling for the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., Judge Richard Leon dismissed a challenge to the 2018 regulation brought by a group of organizations offering insurance plans.
In August 2018, the Trump administration announced a regulation that would re-expand the availability of short-term medical insurance plans that are less expensive partly because they are not subject to the same kinds of regulations that make Obamacare-compliant insurance plans so expensive.
Opponents of the plans say that these less expensive plans undermine Obamacare and provide people with spotty coverage.
Since Congress set the Obamacare individual mandate penalty at zero, Judge Leon ruled that the new rule simply helps people who cannot afford skyrocketing insurance costs.
"By modestlyexpanding the utility of less expensive plans, the Rule aims to minimize the harm and expense that would result from these individuals opting to forgo health insurance in the face of rising premiums."
The judge also ruled that the Trump administration was completely within the power afforded to it by federal law to issue the rule, writing, "Congress clearly did not intend for the law to apply to all species of individual health insurance" because the lawmakers who passed it "Were not rigidly pursuing the ACA-compliant market at all costs, e.g., at the risk of individuals going without insurance altogether."
https://www.conservativereview.com/news/federal-judge-sides-trump-rule-allowing-non-obamacare-affordable-insurance-plans/
No comments:
Post a Comment