Trump’s latest executive order targets and caps new regulations

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that aims to slash federal regulations by requiring departments and agencies to eliminate two existing regulations for every new rule they introduce.

The order begins a process for the new White House administration to set an annual cap on the cost of new regulations.

For the rest of fiscal 2017, the cap requires that the cost of any additional regulations be offset by eliminating existing rules.

It could have a significant impact on the heavily regulated healthcare industry. However, implementing the new policy may not be easy as Congress and the Trump administration try to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Reuters reported. That piece of legislation will need to be replaced by new rules.

"There's a great deal of regulation that is either expressly required by legislation or is necessary to make the legislation work," Tom Bulleit, head of the healthcare practice for the District of Columbia-based law firm of Ropes & Gray, told the news outlet.

The Office of Management and Budget will continue to review major regulations before they are issued, but agencies will also have to identify the two regulations they intend to repeal to offset the cost of a new rule.

However, the new order does not require that the repeal of the two regulations be done simultaneously with the release of a new rule.