President Joe Biden is scheduled on Thursday afternoon to sign an executive order that reopens HealthCare.gov, a federal marketplace that sells Affordable Care Act health-insurance plans.
“As we continue to battle COVID-19, it is even more critical that Americans have meaningful access to affordable care,” the White House said in a statement ahead of Biden’s event that’s planned for 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Department of Health and Human Services is expected to open HealthCare.gov for a “special enrollment period” from Feb. 15 through May 15. Usually signing up for coverage is restricted outside of an “open enrollment” period that stretches over a few weeks in November and December.
Biden’s agenda for health care
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With his executive actions on Thursday, the new president is also slated to lower recent barriers to getting Medicaid and lift certain restrictions on abortion funding in the U.S. and overseas.
He is expected to issue a memorandum that jettisons the “Mexico City Policy,” which requires that foreign organizations certify that they will not “perform or actively promote abortion” if they receive U.S. taxpayer money. The policy has been a political football, tossed out by Democratic presidents and picked up by Republicans. The memorandum also will direct HHS to immediately consider rescinding a Trump-era rule that blocks providers in the federally funded Title X family planning program from referring patients for abortions.
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