What Did Trump’s Health Care Executive Order Do?
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that he said would begin “saving the American people from the nightmare of Obamacare.” There’s a lot that’s still uncertain about how the order will change the health law. Here’s what we know so far.

Such plans are currently exempt from most insurance rules. That means the plans can reject or charge higher prices to customers with pre-existing health conditions, can cover fewer benefits and can charge higher deductibles. Because they tend to be skimpier and insure only healthy customers, the plans’ prices tend to be lower. Under current regulation, such plans can last for only three months at a time. The order asks for a change to lengthen their duration, a directive likely to result in plans that last just under a year, the standard before this year. That change would make it easier to use such insurance as a substitute for Obamacare-compliant coverage.

It is possible that the association rule will allow self-employed people to join associations, but legal experts are skeptical that the labor laws will permit it.

If a lot of people decide to buy these short-term or association insurance plans, that will most likely leave fewer Americans in the Obamacare markets. And that smaller group is likely to have more people who care about comprehensive coverage and lower deductibles — that is, people with more health problems. The result could be higher prices for customers who remain. The loss of the cost-sharing subsidies will also prompt insurers to raise their prices. Most Obamacare customers get federal subsidies that help them buy insurance, and they would not feel the increases. But higher-income customers who choose to buy Obamacare insurance may need to pay more.

What will it mean for people with Medicaid or Medicare?

None of these changes directly affect them.

Will these changes lower the cost of insurance?

It’s complicated. If the rules are changed, some Americans will be able to buy insurance for a lower sticker price through the short-term market or an association. But that insurance is likely to cover fewer benefits, may not be available to people with a history of health problems, and may be more likely to be offered by a fraudulent company.

People who get insurance using government subsidies won’t notice much of a change in price, but they might see fewer options in the future, if the changes make the Obamacare market less attractive to insurers.