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First Executive Order Seeks to Scale Back 'Obamacare' | What Does It Mean?
In his first executive order, President Trump on Friday directed government agencies to scale back as many aspects of the Affordable Care Act as possible, moving within hours of being sworn in to fulfill his pledge to eviscerate President Obama’s signature health care law.
The one-page order, which Mr. Trump signed in a hastily arranged Oval Office ceremony .... gave no specifics about which aspects of the law it was targeting. But its broad language gave federal agencies wide latitude to change, delay or waive provisions of the law that they deemed overly costly for insurers, drug makers, doctors, patients or states, suggesting that it could have wide-ranging impact, and essentially allowing the dismantling of the law to begin even before Congress moves to repeal it.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/us/politics/trump-executive-order-obamacare.html
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The Trump executive order should be seen more as a mission statement, and less as a monarchical edict that can instantly change the law.
The order spells out the various ways that a Trump administration might fight the parts of the health law until new legislation comes: by writing new regulations and exercising discretion where allowed.
It’s possible that insurers will look at the language of the order and get skittish, setting off a market collapse next year. But the order itself doesn’t yet change any rules. The health and human services department and the I.R.S. will have to take further action.