On Jan. 20, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order addressing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as his first act as president. The order states that it is intended to “to minimize the unwarranted economic and regulatory burdens” of the ACA until the law can be repealed and eventually replaced.
The executive order broadly directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies to waive, delay or grant exemptions from ACA requirements that may impose a financial burden.
Action Steps
Bottom Line: nothing changes, yet.
An executive order is a broad policy directive that is used to establish how laws will be enforced by the administration. It does not include specific guidance regarding any particular ACA requirement or provision, and does not change any existing regulations.
As a result, the executive order’s specific impact will remain largely unclear until the new administration is fully in place and can begin implementing these changes.
As always, we will continue to monitor these changes and pass along information as it becomes available.
Check out our upcoming GKG University seminar on this topic!