Trump Strikes Blow to Obamacare With First Executive Order

President Donald Trump's very first executive order was a move toward fulfilling his campaign promise to gut Obamacare.

The executive order, signed hours after Trump's swearing-in on Friday, directed federal agencies to "ease the burden of Obamacare," reported The Hill.

The Hill explained that the order was broad and unspecific, and it is unclear exactly what the immediate results of the order will be:

Trump signed the order in front of reporters at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, one of his first official acts as president. 

The order did not direct any specific actions, instead giving broad authority to the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies to take actions available to them under the law to ease regulatory requirements from ObamaCare. 

It pushes agencies to target provisions that impose a "fiscal burden" on a state or a "cost" or "regulatory burden" on individuals or businesses. 

"Donald Trump's first actions as president makes clear that he's on the side of bankers and billionaires."
—Stephanie Taylor, Progressive Change Champaign Committee

"It is not clear what practical effects will come from the order," The Hill added.

However, the New York Times observed that the order's lack of specificity means that its ramifications could be extremely far-reaching.

"[I]ts broad language gave federal agencies wide latitude to change, delay or waive provisions of the law that they deemed overly costly for insurers, drug makers, doctors, patients or states," wrote the Times, "suggesting that it could have wide-ranging impact, and essentially allowing the dismantling of the law to begin even before Congress moves to repeal it."

The order came among Trump's flurry of other first-day decisions, which included indefinitely suspending a scheduled cut to mortgage insurance premiums, raising middle-class borrowers' housing costs by about $500 a year, as Common Dreams reported.

"Donald Trump's first actions as president makes clear that he's on the side of bankers and billionaires. By raising mortgage costs and instructing federal agencies to begin dismantling the ACA, Trump is catering to the interests of Wall Street at the expense of working families," said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Champaign Committee.

"However, today's historic Women's March and nationwide protests also make it clear that the resistance has begun," Taylor added. "The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and millions of Americans will fight Trump every step of the way."