What do the new rules say?

The new rules, announced in June, let small businesses band together to create “association health plans,” allowing them to offer health insurance at reduced cost—largely by skirting key mandates of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Essentially, association plans can offer insurance at lower rates but with reduced benefits. Trump administration officials say they want to “level the playing field” for small businesses, which generally pay more for coverage because they lack the scale and leverage of large employers to get reduced rates from insurers. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that association health plans will enroll 4 million people in the coming years, including 400,000 who were previously uninsured.