US President Joe Biden signed two health care-focused executive orders Thursday seeking to reopen the enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), strengthen Medicaid and protect reproductive health care access.
The first executive order directors the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to open a special enrollment period for the ACA and Medicaid from February 15 to March 15. This move is intended to provide Americans with health care access during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also implores health care agencies to re-examine their policies to ensure that the greatest number of Americans have access to health care. Some such policies include limits that prevent people with pre-existing conditions from accessing health care and policies that undermine people’s ability to access health care.
The second executive order aims to broaden women’s access to reproductive health care. It targets minority and low-income women and attempts to do so at a global level, allowing the US to fund international non-profits. It also asks HHS to reconsider its Title X family planning policies.
Biden said that the executive orders are an attempt to “undo the damage Trump has done,” noting that the executive orders effectively restore the ACA and Medicaid to what they were before former US President Trump took office. Biden also emphasized that the most important next steps in healthcare concern managing COVID-19.