Shaheen Statement on President Trump’s Executive Order to Weaken Patient Protections Provided by the Affordable Care Act

(Washington, DC) — Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) issued the following statement after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that dismantles patient protections in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and further disrupts health insurance marketplaces:

“Despite the American people’s rejection of the Affordable Care Act repeal, this new order is part of a concerted effort by the Trump administration to unravel the law’s patient protections and to destabilize healthcare marketplaces,” said Shaheen. “This order only introduces more unnecessary chaos into our healthcare system, which undermines the healthcare that Granite Staters, and all Americans, depend on. The President must abandon these political efforts to destabilize the ACA, and finally prioritize working with Congress to address and fix this manufactured crisis. There are Republicans and Democrats who are ready to move forward with bipartisan legislation that will provide stability in the insurance marketplace, increase access to care and lower cost sharing.”

Senator Shaheen is leading efforts in the Senate to provide marketplace stability by permanently continuing and increasing eligibility for cost-sharing reduction payments. Her bill, the Marketplace Certainty Act, would make cost-sharing reduction payments permanent and expand eligibility to more working Americans.

The President has consistently vowed to let the healthcare system “explode” and has sent marketplaces into chaos by refusing to commit to paying cost-sharing reductions and making it more difficult to sign-up for healthcare coverage. Cost-sharing reductions help stabilize state marketplaces and make premiums affordable for hard-working Americans. Independent analysis has predicted that refusal to make these payments would make premiums skyrocket by 20 percent next year. The Department of Health and Human Services is trying to make it increasingly more difficult for Americans to sign up for healthcare by slashing advertising for open enrollment by 90 percent, cutting the open enrollment period in half, shutting down the Obamacare website for 12 hours on Sundays during open enrollment and canceling administration officials’ attendance at state-enrollment events.