OBAMACARE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration issued a sweeping new rule on Tuesday [6-19-18] to make it easier for small businesses to band together and set up health insurance plans that skirt many requirements of the Affordable Care Act, offering lower costs but also fewer benefits. President Trump, speaking at a 75th anniversary celebration of the National Federation of Independent Business, said the new rule would allow small businesses to ‘escape some of Obamacare’s most burdensome mandates’ by creating new entities known as association health plans…As a result, he said, ‘you’re going to save a fortune.’ Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said the rule would give small businesses access to insurance options like those available to large companies, starting as soon as Sept. 1. Millions of people could benefit, he said…Still, consumer groups and many state officials have opposed the push for association health plans. They say the new plans will draw healthy people out of the Affordable Care Act marketplace, driving up costs for those who need comprehensive insurance. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on Tuesday that the new rule would open the door to ‘junk health insurance.’ It is, he said, ‘the latest act of sabotage of our health care system by the Trump administration.'”
-Robert Pear, “New Trump Rule Rolls Back Protections of the Affordable Care Act,” The New York Times online, June 19, 2018