On February 6, 2019, a resolution was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to restrict the market for short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans. Under a rule, effective October 2, 2018, insurers were allowed to sell short-term, limited-duration plans with a maximum coverage period of fewer than 12 months. Before the new rule, those plans could only provide coverage that lasted less than three months.

 

According to the supplementary information published with the rule, short-term, limited-duration insurance is generally exempt from federal requirements because it is not considered to be individual health insurance coverage. The plans do not have to provide the essential health benefits specified by the Affordable Care Act and can refuse to cover preexisting conditions.

 

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) introduced a resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would undo the October 2018 rule. Her resolution would restore the under-three-month limit on those kinds of insurance plans.

 

Under the Congressional Review Act, the resolution would need to pass both houses of Congress and receive President Trump’s signature to repeal the rule.

 

The CRA is a federal law passed in 1996 creating a review period during which Congress, by passing a joint resolution of disapproval that is then signed by the president, can overturn a new federal agency rule.

 

Prior to 2017, the law was successfully used only once, to overturn a rule on ergonomics in the workplace in 2001. In the first four months of his administration, President Donald Trump (R) signed 14 CRA resolutions from Congress undoing a variety of rules issued near the end of Barack Obama’s (D) presidency. As of May 2018, the last time the CRA was successfully used, 16 rules have been repealed under President Trump.