Trump Pledges New Action on Health Care Using `Power of the Pen'

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged to take executive action on health care, saying he would go around Congress to provide new insurance options for Americans.

“Since Congress can’t get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people – FAST,” Trump tweeted.

Trump didn’t provide additional detail on what executive action he would take and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump would sign an executive order to lift some of the insurance regulations set by President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, including looking at ways for people and organizations to join together to buy insurance plans. Republican Senator Rand Paul has been encouraging Trump to take executive action to allow for so-called “association health plans.”

Trump has failed multiple times this year to come up with a legislative alternative to the Affordable Care Act that could pass the Senate.

To contact the reporter on this story: Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Elizabeth Titus