Daniel Hemel on How States Can Prevent the Affordable Care Act From "Exploding"

4 ways states can prevent the Affordable Care Act from “exploding”

The gravest danger facing Obamacare now is not legislative action — it’s executive inaction. Fortunately for the millions who rely on the Affordable Care Act, the states can save the health care law from “exploding.” But they need to move fast.

President Donald Trump’s latest bid to repeal the ACA looks as though it’s destined to meet the same fate as House Speaker Paul Ryan’s failed effort last month. Still, Trump has the ability — and quite likely the inclination — to undermine the health care law by deliberately failing to carry out important elements of it.

Obamacare faces four near-term threats from the president. First, the Trump administration could stop enforcing the individual mandate, which requires most individuals to have health insurance or else pay a penalty to the IRS. Trump can’t change the law without an act of Congress, but he might be able, through directives from the Oval Office, to stop the IRS from collecting the penalty.

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