President Joe Biden continued issuing executive actions Thursday, reversing health care policies implemented by the Trump Administration.
His order opens a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act starting Feb. 15 through May 15. It’s an opportunity to accommodate people without insurance, now, during the pandemic. The order also directs federal agencies to reconsider rules and policies that limit Americans’ access to health care.
Additionally, the measure reconsiders policies limiting funding for groups that provide abortions and family planning services.
“There is nothing new that we are doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act and restoring Medicaid to the way it was before Trump became President,” Biden said.
Millions of people have lost their health insurance as a result of the COVID pandemic.
“If you don’t have insurance you are charged a sky-high amount,” said Broward resident Ryann Greenberg. She has a pre-existing condition and has grappled with health insurance since her college days.
She’s insured today, but knows all to well what it’s like to be without.
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“It was like a sigh of relief, it takes like a burden off of you once you realize, ‘oh I have health insurance,’ I can go see the doctor for a $25 co-pay instead of coming out of pocket $500," she said.
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Meantime, Biden continues to get attention, and criticism, for his flurry of executive orders.
NBC 6's partner Politifact reports Biden leads the way with 17 executive actions in his first two days in office. Their reporting shows Former President Trump signed one during his first two days, while former President Obama issued two.
“The majority of the executive action that Biden has taken so far has to do with the coronavirus pandemic,” said Politifact’s Katie Sanders. “Requirements for travel, for mask-wearing, for just supervising what’s going on, that was something that President Trump and President Obama did not have to deal with, or chose not to deal with.”
