Day 266: Trump vs. Everybody

Thursday, October 12, 2017

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1/ Trump signed an executive order eliminating some Affordable Care Act insurance rules for small businesses that band together to buy health insurance as an association. The order will also lift limits on limited coverage, short-term insurance, a...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Trump signed an executive order eliminating some Affordable Care Act insurance rules for small businesses that band together to buy health insurance as an association. The order will also lift limits on limited coverage, short-term insurance, and expand ways workers could use employer-funded accounts to buy their own insurance policies. Critics say that by relaxing standards, Trump would be creating low-cost insurance options for healthier, younger consumers, which would result in higher costs for the sick and potentially destabilize and undermine the ACA insurance marketplace. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

How Trump’s executive order undermines the Affordable Care Act. Trump is asking federal agencies to look for ways to expand the use of association health plans, groups of small businesses that pool together to buy health insurance, and to broaden the definition of short-term insurance, which is exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s rules. (Vox)

2/ Trump on NAFTA: "We’ll see what happens." Justin Trudeau visited the White House yesterday in hopes of seeking a “fairer trade” deal between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The US Chamber of Commerce president said that abandoning the agreement would pose an “existential threat” to the continent’s national and economic security. Trudeau told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he was worried about “poison pills,” proposals the US might make that were designed to kill, not repair, the NAFTA agreement. Trump has called NAFTA a "disaster" and that "NAFTA will have to be terminated if we’re going to make it good. Otherwise, I believe you can’t negotiate a good deal." (Washington Post)

3/ European allies and Republicans are pressuring Trump to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. Trump is expected to decertify the nuclear deal tomorrow, despite his own cabinet saying that Iran has abided by the deal. Lawmakers have remained largely in the dark about what Trump's ultimate plan is. Congress, however, will have 60 days to pass legislation to reimpose sanctions on Iran if Trump decertifies the deal. Trump was reportedly "incensed" by the arguments Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis made when he certified Iran's compliance in July. “He threw a fit,” said one person familiar with the meeting. “. . . He was furious. Really furious. It’s clear he felt jammed.” (New York Times / Washington Post / WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.