STAT+: Trump’s CMS to allow skimpier plans on ACA exchanges

STAT PlusInsurance Trump’s CMS to allow skimpier plans on ACA exchanges The policy will make ACA plans cheaper, but it could be harder for patients to afford care Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Tara BannowMay 18, 2026 Hospitals and Insurance Reporter Tara Bannow[email protected]Tara Bannow covers hospitals, providers, and insurers. You can reach Tara on Signal at tarabannow.70. The Trump administration is opening the floodgates for Affordable Care Act exchanges to feature plans that offer bare-bones coverage and fewer protections, but which have lower monthly premiums.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday finalized its proposal from February to pare back the requirements that ACA plans have to meet beginning for 2027, like offering standardized plans and restricting high-deductible, catastrophic plans to a small subset of members. Advertisement The changes are aimed at making policies cheaper, in line with President Trump’s affordability agenda, but they also fit within the conservative playbook of loosening market restrictions and consumer protections in favor of offering people the freedom to choose policies that offer less coverage. The obvious drawback, health policy experts say, is that those policies put individuals and families on the hook for potentially massive bills if they actually need care.

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