EDITORIAL: Just plain sick: Trump continues to destroy Obamacare through executive sabotage

July 23--Sure, President Trump is playing furious footsie with Vladimir Putin, and escalating a trade war with China.

But Americans who care about something as basic as being able to go to the doctor are enduring a quieter, slower-motion outrage: that after failing legislatively to undermine the Affordable Care Act, Trump has been sticking wrenches in every gear he can find.

This Editorial Board had qualms with Obamacare, which did too much on expanding access and too little to control costs. But it is the law. It is supported by a solid majority. It has enabled 20 million people to buy into insurance markets.

Which hasn't stopped Trump from fighting a guerilla war to destabilize it.

In the spring, his administration let states cut coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

Earlier this summer, it brought back the idea of slimmed-down insurance plans for healthy people -- encouraging them to cluster and drive up costs for those left behind.

This month, the administration slashed funding for counselors who help people get signed up for health insurance.

And stopped "risk adjustment" payments to insurers who cover especially expensive patients.

Meantime, the administration refuses to defend the law -- duly passed, signed by the previous President -- against a legal challenge by 20 state attorneys general.

Insurance markets are destabilized. Premium increases, some of which had slowed, are set to accelerate.

Trump laughs. The rest of us reel.

___

(c)2018 New York Daily News

Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.