Following Senate Republicans' decision to abandon the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, President Donald Trump has announced that he may sign an executive order on health care to bring about change, CNN Money says. Here we go again!
"I'll probably be signing a very major executive order where people can go out, cross state lines, do lots of things and buy their own health care, and that will be probably signed next week," he said to reporters on Wednesday. "It's being finished now. It's going to cover a lot of territory and a lot of people. Millions of people."
The potential order is reportedly inspired by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul's ideas on health care. Sen. Paul has proposed a solution allowing insurers to sell policies across state boundaries and buy coverage in groups. If permitted to sell insurance policies in several states, insurers would still only follow health care regulations in their home state. While the plus side of the idea would increase customers' options of what to do, critics have pointed out that having access to other states would increase insurance rates negatively.
"I believe President Trump can legalize on his own the ability of individuals to join a group or health association across state lines to buy insurance," Paul shared on MSNBC. "This would bring enormous leverage to bringing down prices. It would also bring protection to individuals who feel left out, hung out to dry, basically."
Trump choosing to support Paul's proposal comes only a week after the president rebuffed it on Twitter. "Graham-Cassidy Bill is great!" Trump wrote. "Ends [Obama]care!"
Rand Paul is a friend of mine but he is such a negative force when it comes to fixing healthcare. Graham-Cassidy Bill is GREAT! Ends Ocare!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2017
BuzzFeed News reports that making the solution an executive order would prevent it from going through Congress. Paul has been working on his plans for six months and was one of the GOP senators who publicly opposed the Graham-Cassidy bill.
Although Paul's plan seems far more reasonable than the Graham-Cassidy bill, I'll actually believe any health care changes once they're finalized.