President Joe Biden’s administration announced a proposed rule that would limit the duration of Republican healthcare plans to three months with the option of a one-month extension. The administration said that short-term health insurance plans may leave patients burdened with excessive medical bills.
The new rule would also require that plans provide customers with clear explanations of their benefits, which are often difficult to understand and can misinform people about their rights.
Biden is trying to reverse Donald Trump’s expansion of short-term plans, which took effect in 2018. It extended the duration of the policies to a little under a year and allowed them to be renewed for up to 36 months. The Trump administration believed that these were a cheaper alternative to Affordable Care Act policies.
The Biden administration, however, refers to these plans as “junk insurance.”
“Often consumers think they’re buying insurance that provides some decent coverage, not realizing these junk plans can limit what they cover and how much they cover,” said White House domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden. “This leaves patients footing the bill, often thousands of dollars worth of surprising charges.”
The proposed rule is one of many that Biden is promoting under his “Bidenomics” plan, which is aimed at building the economy “from the middle out and bottom up.”
Biden is now using his new policies of investing in infrastructure and programs for the middle class as a platform in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
Republicans have been quick to criticize “Bidenomics,” while looking to their own presidential candidates for their economic agendas.
