Republicans: ‘Obamacare’ can be undone by Trump

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

With prospects in doubt for repealing “Obamacare,” some Republicans say the Trump administration can rewrite regulations and take other actions to undo much of the health care law on its own.

Some of those moves could disrupt life for millions of people, many in states that the new president carried. And then there’s the risk of court challenges. Remember the White House travel ban?

“In a world where Obamacare is not going to be repealed and replaced, do you work to try to make it succeed, or do you take steps to undermine it in order to continue blaming President Obama and the Democrats for the dysfunction of the health care system?” asked Nicholas Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor who’s analyzed the administration’s leeway to make changes. “Right now we don’t know the answer, and we are getting conflicting signals from the administration.”

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently concluded that insurance markets would probably be stable “in most areas” under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, or ACA. But President Donald Trump has said “it’s imploding, and soon will explode.”

GOP congressional leaders, who had to pull their repeal bill, describe a multi-pronged attack on “Obamacare” that includes administration action. Democrats warn of “sabotage.” Enduring political turmoil is seen as contributing to insurers’ worries about returning to the health law’s markets next year.