President Trump signed an executive order Thursday intended to increase the available options for healthcare coverage across the country, but Delaware Deputy Insurance Commissioner Mitch Crane says there are problems with regulating Trump’s plan state to state.
The executive order requires the Labor Department to make it easier for groups of employers to combine the coverage they offer through association health plans. Crane does not have a problem with that part.
“If there was a real interest in doing that, that would be something that we would be entertaining. That would be fine, either allowing people to associate more easily or to cut down the waiting period to buy that insure. That’s not a bad idea,” said Crane.
His criticism is, among other places, with the language in the order which says it will facilitate the purchase of insurance across state lines. He says it is already legal to do so, and adds if healthcare is purchased across state lines, the recipient’s state of residence would no longer have jurisdiction over the plan, and the in-state doctors and hospitals may be out of the plan’s network.
“Even though you have a health insurance plan from another state, there are no doctors that take it; there are no hospitals that take it. So, everything that you do would be out of network which is a lot more expensive,” said Crane.
Supporters of the executive order, like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R), say it will help increase competition among insurance companies to provide lower rates, but Crane argues that may only benefit healthy people, and cause the rates for people with pre-existing health conditions to go up.