Schakowsky Statement on President Trump's executive order on health care

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Chief Deputy Whip, released the following statement after President Trump announced an executive order to undermine the Affordable Care Act:

Today’s executive order is the latest effort by the Trump Administration to sabotage the Affordable Care Act – driving up premiums, eroding consumer protections, and destabilizing the market. It is a betrayal of the American people: attacking people’s health care to save some face politically.

Allowing small businesses to buy out of state insurance policies for their workers may sound good – but the results of the President’s proposal would be disastrous. Under the Trump executive order, those insurance policies will no longer have to provide essential benefits – like maternity coverage, mental health services or substance abuse treatment. These plans could even fail to guarantee coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. They are designed to attract the young and healthy – or the unwitting – splitting the market, driving up premiums for those who need comprehensive benefits, and leaving others with worthless plans.

Out-of-state sales can happen today – but out-of-state insurers must comply with the laws of the state into which they are selling. Under the President’s proposal, those out-of-state plans would be free to ignore state laws. Where does an Illinoisan go for help when a Wyoming insurer refuses to pay a claim or if she believes she’s being charged too high a copay? And what happens when an out-of-state insurer goes belly up? Can she really rely on Wyoming regulators to stand up for her?

Unregulated out-of-state plans are not an answer to making health care more secure or more affordable – they are a sorry and cruel attempt to look like the Trump Administration is doing something about health care. If anyone had any doubts that President Trump doesn’t care about the wellbeing of Americans, all they have to do is look at today’s action.