Court backs Trump expansion of cheap health insurance plans
Published:Friday | July 17, 2020 | 5:18 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court on Friday upheld the Trump administration’s expansion of cheaper short-term health insurance plans, derided by critics as “junk insurance,” as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act’s costlier comprehensive insurance.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in a 2-1 decision that the administration had the legal authority to increase the duration of the health plans from three to 12 months, with the option of renewing them for 36 months.
The plans do not have to cover people with preexisting conditions or provide basic benefits like prescription drugs.
President Donald Trump, who wants to get rid of the entire health care law but failed to repeal it in Congress, has praised the plans as “much less expensive health care at a much lower price.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the decision would allow the administration to “keep railroading vulnerable families into shoddy junk health insurance plans.”
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