Press Release: 7/18/2025

AG Campbell Challenges Trump Administration Rule Creating Barriers To Health Care Access Under The ACA

 

Trump Administration Estimates The Rule Will Cause Up To 1.8 Million People to Lose Health Insurance, Increase Costs for Millions More 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

7/17/2025

MEDIA CONTACT

Kennedy Sims, Deputy Press Secretary

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Call Kennedy Sims, Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

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Email Kennedy Sims, Deputy Press Secretary at Kennedy.Sims@mass.gov

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today co-led a coalition of 20 other states in filing a lawsuit challenging an unlawful final rule instituted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that would create significant barriers to obtaining health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The final rule would make numerous amendments to rules governing federal and state health insurance marketplaces, which the Administration estimates will cause up to 1.8 million people to lose their health insurance while causing millions more to pay increased insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs like copays and deductibles. The final rule also excludes coverage of gender-affirming care as an essential health benefit under the ACA.  

“For fifteen years, the Affordable Care Act has championed health care over profit in the marketplace, ensuring that no American has to ever make the impossible choice between their health and their wallet,” said AG Campbell. “The Trump Administration’s unlawful and baseless rule not only threatens to rip away coverage from millions of Americans but leaves states on the hook once again to foot the bill for this Administration’s cruel and disastrous policies.”

Congress enacted the ACA in 2010 to increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance and decrease the cost of health care, creating affordable insurance choices for consumers through Medicaid expansion and reforming state-based markets to increase the affordability of private insurance. Fifteen years later, the ACA continues to meet its goals, doubling annual enrollment over the last five years and providing over 24 million Americans nationwide with more affordable options for health insurance coverage. 

Now, with less than four months until open enrollment for plan year 2026, the Trump Administration’s final rule would not only reverse course and abruptly rip away life-saving health insurance coverage, but also create additional barriers to enrollment—significantly increasing the costs incurred by states in providing healthcare, including higher state expenditures on Medicaid, uncompensated emergency care, and other services for newly uninsured residents. 

The Health Connector is the ACA marketplace for Massachusetts, providing insurance coverage to 375,000 state residents through high-quality Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) and ConnectorCare, which offers low- and moderate-income residents more affordable premiums by supplementing federal subsidies under the ACA with state dollars. The Commonwealth’s competitive and stable marketplace includes multiple health and dental insurers, but projected premium increase from the Trump Administration’s final rule pose a serious threat to enrollment and could raise state subsidy costs by an estimated $10 million in 2026.

The final rule by HHS would add new verification requirements, impose an automatic monthly charge on all automatically reenrolled consumers who qualify for $0 premiums, shorten the open enrollment period for signing up for health coverage, in addition to a host of other changes that will decrease affordability for million nationwide. The final rule also excludes coverage of gender-affirming care as an essential health benefit under the ACA on federal exchange plans.   

In the lawsuit the coalition argues that the HHS and CMS rule is unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, and would cause significant harm to the states and their residents. The final rule imposes burdensome and costly paperwork requirements, limits the opportunities to sign up for health coverage, substantially increases cost-sharing limits, and forces exchanges and consumers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to prove eligibility for coverage and subsidies. These changes will result in direct and immediate costs to States as well as harms tied to decreased enrollment. The coalition is also seeking preliminary relief, and a stay, to prevent the challenged portions of the final rule from taking effect in the Plaintiff States before the August 25 effective date.

Joining AG Campbell in submitting this brief, which she co-led with the attorneys general of California and New York, are the attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. 

A copy of the complaint is available here.