CHOICE: Cheaper Health Plans With Less Coverage Move Forward.

The Trump administration, in one of its most significant efforts to roll back the Affordable Care Act, on Wednesday released a rule that will allow for the proliferation of cheaper, less-comprehensive health plans that have been restricted by the former Obama administration.

The rule would loosen restrictions on a type of coverage known as short-term medical insurance—low-cost plans that cover a limited period with less-expansive benefit offerings, which are subject to fewer consumer protection regulations.

Such plans now can only be carried up to 90 days. The new rule would allow the plans to last for a year and be renewed for a total coverage period of 36 months.

The plans are often sold to people who qualify as healthy and may have annual limits on the amount of care the policies will cover. The plans don’t have to cover people with pre-existing conditions, and insurers can charge higher premiums based on a consumer’s health status.

They also don’t have to include the specific benefits mandated by the ACA, such as prescription-drug coverage.

Choice is good.