Biden to reopen healthcare.gov, ease Medicaid rules amid pandemic
Joe Biden
US President Joe Biden will reopen the nation's online health insurance marketplace for people who cannot obtain coverage through their employers, the White House said on Thursday.
Biden, who took office last week, to this end will restore access to healthcare.gov with an executive order on Thursday afternoon, the latest in a blizzard of moves by the Democratic president to quickly reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
The order will allow people to sign up for insurance through the government exchange from February 15 to May 15, the White House said in a policy fact sheet. The programme is normally accessible for just six weeks a year.
The action was expected. Biden has vowed to shore up the healthcare.gov, and other programmes created under former president Barack Obama's sweeping 2010 Affordable Care Act. He has argued that the changes are more urgent because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 400,000 Americans.
Republicans have long opposed the healthcare restructuring law, criticising the cost and quality of care as well as extensive government involvement in healthcare markets.
Biden also plans to direct federal agencies to "re-examine" Trump-era policies like work requirements that made it more difficult for people to qualify for Medicaid, the government-run health insurance programme for the poor.
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