Trump administration rewrites ACA insurance rules to give more power to states

The Trump administration on Monday rewrote rules for health plans sold through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, tilting control over insurance standards from the federal government to states and handing Americans new ways to avoid penalties for failing to carry coverage.

The rules add two broad exemptions from the ACA’s requirement that most consumers be insured. The change offers escape hatches that will be retroactive two years, even before a recent tax law ends the penalties completely starting in 2019.