Trump signs executive order that could gut Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate

President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Friday giving federal agencies broad powers to unwind regulations created under the Affordable Care Act, which might include enforcement of the penalty for people who fail to carry the health insurance that the law requires of most Americans. The executive order, signed in the Oval Office as one of the new president’s first actions, directs agencies to grant relief to all constituencies affected by the sprawling 2010 health care law: consumers, insurers, hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, states and others.