Health care is very much on the ballot this year.
• In the meantime, the Trump administration continues to take steps to weaken Obamacare through executive action.
Its boldest attempt is its decision to stop defending the law against a lawsuit filed by some Republican state officials. That attempt seems unlikely to succeed in the long run, given that both conservative and liberal legal experts have criticized it, Aron-Dine told me. But if it did succeed, she added, it would be catastrophic. It would repeal much of the private-market part of the law, leaving only the Medicaid expansion fully in place.
A second sabotage attempt is less ambitious — but more certain to do at least some damage. Last month, the Trump administration announced it would expand so-called short-term insurance plans, which aren’t subject to minimum coverage requirements. Some number of (currently) healthy people will sign up for these bare-bones plans, raising costs for everyone. And, of course, if those healthy people end up getting sick, they may regret having signed on.
The administration will likely announce the details on these short-term plans in the coming weeks.
The bottom line: The recent expansion of Medicaid in Virginia was a major piece of good news on health care. Thirty-three states have now expanded Medicaid as part of Obamacare, and other states, like Nebraska and Utah, may soon follow. But all of this progress is in danger if Republicans keep control of Congress.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/opinion/trump-republicans-health-care-repeal.html