The Trump administration took additional steps to weaken Obamacare on Monday, allowing US states to relax the rules on what insurers must cover and giving states more power to regulate their individual insurance markets.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule that allows states to select essential health benefits that must be covered by individual insurance plans sold under former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires coverage of 10 benefits, including maternity and newborn care and prescription drugs. Under the new rule, states can select from a much larger list which benefits insurers must cover.
That could lead to less generous coverage in some states, according to Avalere Health, a research and consulting firm.
President Donald Trump’s administration has used its regulatory power to undermine Obamacare after the Republican-controlled Congress last year failed to…