President Trump kicked off his second term with a bold move to undo a multitude of former President Biden’s key initiatives. In a grand ceremony at the Capital One Arena, Trump signed an order that effectively reversed numerous Biden administration policies deemed inflammatory, inflationary, and potentially illegal. These reversals span a wide range of areas, including healthcare, Covid-19 outreach, Affordable Care Act expansions, and protections against gender-based discrimination.
One of the major actions taken by Trump was the rescinding of an October 2022 order by Biden to test Medicare and Medicaid models aimed at lowering healthcare costs. This order was seen as an extension of Biden’s efforts to negotiate drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act. Additionally, Trump rolled back Biden’s measures to expand access to Covid-19 treatments and vaccines, dissolve the Gender Policy Council, and eliminate various gender and sex discrimination protections. He also mandated that federal workers return to their offices full-time and imposed a freeze on federal hiring, with limited exceptions.
In a separate move, Trump initiated the process of withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization, citing the organization’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. These sweeping proclamations, typical of presidential executive orders, set in motion the regulatory process at federal agencies. However, they may face legal challenges or congressional intervention, as some of Biden’s orders were linked to legislation passed by Congress.
Trump’s actions extended to specific policy areas, such as the Affordable Care Act and drug pricing. He revoked Biden’s executive order that extended enrollment periods for ACA plans and provided additional funding for enrollment assistance. This move aimed to reverse the significant increase in ACA enrollment achieved by the Biden administration through government subsidies. Additionally, Trump rescinded an executive order that prompted the creation of three drug pricing experiments by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
The CMMI experiments focused on innovative approaches to drug pricing, including multi-state purchasing agreements for expensive therapies, reduced payments for accelerated approval drugs, and standardized copays for generic drugs. Trump’s expected choice to lead CMMI, Abe Sutton, signaled a shift in the direction of these experiments under the new administration.
In the realm of Covid-19 response, Trump overturned several Biden policies geared towards combating the pandemic and enhancing preparedness for future outbreaks. These policies, issued in 2021 during the height of the crisis, aimed to bolster testing, research, economic relief, and international cooperation in pandemic scenarios.
Furthermore, Trump fulfilled his campaign promise to address health and education policies related to gender and sex discrimination. He emphasized a binary understanding of gender, rescinding Biden’s orders that promoted LGBTQ+ protections and transgender rights. This included reversing policies supporting LGBTQ+ students and ending programs like conversion therapy domestically and internationally. Trump also disbanded the Gender Policy Council established by Biden in 2021.
Overall, Trump’s sweeping executive orders mark a significant shift in national policy priorities, setting the stage for potential legal battles and policy debates in the coming months. The impact of these reversals on healthcare, drug pricing, Covid-19 response, and gender discrimination remains to be seen as the new administration navigates these changes.
