Daily US Times: On Tuesday, President Joe Biden ordered government health insurance markets to reopen for a special ‘Obamacare’ sign-up window, offering uninsured Americans a haven as the spread of coronavirus remains dangerously high and vaccines are not yet widely available.
The US president signed an executive order directing the HealthCare.gov insurance markets to take new applications for subsidized benefits, something former Trump administration had refused to do. Mr Biden also instructed his administration to consider reversing other Trump health care policies, including the imposition of work requirements for low-income people getting Medicaid and curbs on abortion counseling.
As he signed the directives in the Oval Office, Biden said: “There’s nothing new that we’re doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act and restoring Medicaid to the way it was before Trump became president.”
President Biden declared he was reversing “my predecessor’s attack on women’s health.”
The actions were only the first steps by the president, who has promised to build out former President Barack Obama’s health care law to achieve a goal of coverage for all.
While Mr Biden rejects the idea of a government-run system that Senator Bernie Sanders has pushed for in his “Medicare for All” proposal, his more centrist approach will require congressional buy-in. But opposition to “Obamacare” runs deep among Republicans.
The most concrete short-term impact of Joe Biden’s orders will come from reopening HealthCare.gov insurance markets as coverage has shrunk in the economic turmoil of the Covid pandemic. That is an executive action and no legislation is required.
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