WASHINGTON - President Trump signed an executive order today striping critical Affordable Care Act (ACA) protections from small business healthcare plans. In response, Amanda Ballantyne, National Director of Main Street Alliance, a national network of small business owners, issued the following statement:

“Small business owners won’t benefit from a proliferation of substandard insurance plans and market destabilization that will emerge as the result of this executive order.The ACA ensured that association health plans in the small group market provide essential health services such as maternity care and prescription drug coverage, and instituted a community rating system, which prevents sharp premium increases based on health status, age or gender. Eliminating these vital protections will allow insurance companies to peddle low quality, junk plans, while at the same time raising premiums on small businesses whose employees have a diverse set of healthcare needs.

This executive order is a cynical effort by the Trump Administration to sabotage the ACA after several failed attempts to move an unpopular repeal through Congress. It’s a backdoor approach to undermine and destabilize the small group and individual markets, by exacerbating adverse selection and driving up costs for the most vulnerable enrollees.”

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