President Donald Trump appears to be bending to conservatives’ desires to kill a requirement that insurers offer Americans 10 categories of “essential health benefits” so he can get the votes needed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in the Republican-led House of Representatives. The ACA's essential health benefits include maternity care and mental health coverage, outpatient hospital care and prescription drugs. Conservatives, particularly those in the House Freedom Caucus, say all 10 categories of benefits may not be needed for some consumers and they don’t want them to be required as part of the House GOP’s American Health Care Act, also known as Trumpcare. But supporters of the essential health benefit package say they are needed to keep insurance risk pools stable. Insurers say they need more younger and healthier people in their risk pools.

Source: Forbes March 23, 2017 16:33 UTC