President Trump’s health care order draws criticism from Utah analysts

WASHINGTON D.C. – Some analysts in the Beehive State are calling President Trump’s order as a “short-term gain, long-term loss.”

White House officials say the order will expand choices and give better alternatives to Obamacare.  It directs the Secretary of Labor to find ways to decrease costs by several methods.  Employers can more easily provide insurance from across state lines through Association Health Plans.  Plus, customers would have more access to short-term policies.

Jason Stevenson with the Utah Health Policy Project says the order could bring costs down, but, he believes insurers could gut their policies in order to lower prices. He believes certain companies may try to limit prescriptions and hospitalization in order to make things less expensive.  “These plans could be attractive and cheaper than what you have, but, there is very small amount of people that would actually find those plans to be a good thing,” Stevenson says.

He also says people could already get coverage from across state lines, but, there’s a reason why insurance companies don’t like doing that.  He asks, “How can they manage doctors and hospitals 500 miles away from where their headquarters are?”

Stevenson also says there are serious issues that come with the short-term STLDI policies being touted by the Trump administration.  “The one thing short-term policies do is they discriminate based on pre-existing conditions.  They can charge you more if you have certain health ailments, and actually not cover some of those ailments,” he says.

The White House says Obamacare policies are not delivering quality health care for the country, and people have been forced to pay higher premiums.