Trump administration officials said premiums were already soaring because of flaws inherent in the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement.
The new final rule carries out an executive order signed by Mr. Trump on Oct. 12.
The rule will allow small-business owners, their employees, sole proprietors and other self-employed people to join together to buy or provide insurance in the large-group market through association health plans.
Because they will be exempt from many requirements of the 2010 health law, Mr. Trump has said, the association health plans can "provide more affordable health insurance options to many Americans, including hourly wage earners, farmers, and the employees of small businesses and entrepreneurs that fuel economic growth."
The new health plans might, for example, appeal to restaurant workers, real estate agents, dry cleaners, florists, plumbers and painters, officials said.
Under the rule, Mr. Acosta said, "business associations from city chambers of commerce to nationwide industry groups can offer health care insurance to the employees of their employer members through the large-group market."
Trump administration officials said that small businesses and self-employed people in the same industry, state or region could band together and obtain health coverage as if they were a single large employer — even if they had no other connections to one another.
Until now, the Labor Department has required a much greater "commonality of interest" among small businesses that wanted to be treated as a large group when buying insurance. To qualify under prior rules, small businesses generally had to have some purpose "unrelated to the provision of benefits." And the government often looked at the size of each company, rather than the group as a whole, to determine if it was a large or small employer.
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