Judge denies challenge to Trump administration's short-term plan expansion

A federal judge struck down a lawsuit to curb the Trump administration’s 2018 rule to expand short-term health plans, disagreeing with the lawsuit that the rule violates federal law. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon on Friday is a setback for patient advocacy and small insurer groups challenging the 2018 rule that expands the duration of a short-term plan from 90 days to one year. A collection of insurer and patient groups sued the administration in September 2018 claiming that the rule's definition of a short-term plan was arbitrary. Plaintiffs include the American Psychiatric Association, AIDS United and the community-based insurer group Association for Community Affiliated Plans. The groups’ core argument was that the rule violated the ACA because it created an alternative individual insurance market “beyond the reach of the ACA’s reforms,” according to the opinion issued Friday by Leon.