TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Trump Administration is liberalizing the rules to allow more people to have short-term, limited duration health insurance, but the rule is on a “crash course with a brick wall in California,” according to Kaiser Health News. In addition, a lawsuit is being filed in Maryland federal court by the cities of Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, alleging that Trump’s executive actions are an unconstitutional violation of his duty to see that the laws—the Affordable Care Act—are “faithfully executed,” according to NBC Nightly News.
“Supporters of ACA, which should be called the Unaffordable Care Act, want to build the wall—to keep Americans from escaping from outrageously expensive plans they neither need nor want,” states the Association of American Physicians and Surgeon (AAPS).
ACA’s mandates to cover a long list of costly “essential” benefits, and its guaranteed issue/community rating provisions (euphemistically called “consumer protections”) are guaranteed to drive premiums sky-high, explains AAPS. Low-risk individuals and families are tremendously overcharged so high-risk persons can pay less.
“Besides punishing the young and healthy with a tax penalty, now zeroed out by Congress, ACA eliminated affordable choices,” states AAPS. “It’s like saying to Americans that if they can’t afford a Cadillac, they aren’t allowed to choose a bicycle because it lacks the same consumer protection.”
ACA delegates tremendous authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. President Obama was also accused of exempting certain powerful interests from provisions that would harm them, notes AAPS.
“President Trump and Secretary Azar are acting within their statutory and constitution authority, especially when simply reversing Obama’s executive actions,” AAPS states. “California can exercise its constitutional authority to regulate insurance markets, but it will be depriving Californians of the ability to buy protection, like renewability guarantees, for up to 90 percent less than an Exchange plan.”
AAPS filed two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of ACA and 10 amicus briefs in support of other challengers. It called for its early repeal and other measures to lessen its destructive impact on American medicine.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943.
Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, janeorientmd@gmail.com