President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at expanding health care choices and competition, a move which is being applauded by one local lawmaker.

U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.) spoke with the Elizabethton Star on Thursday about the move by the President. While the US House of Representatives passed a replace and repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the bill died in the US Senate. Roe called Trump’s Executive Order a way to bring relief to the millions of Americans impacted by the collapse of the health insurance market.

“We think this year that half of the counties across the country will only have one option for insurance in 2018,” Roe said. “One option is not competition. That means you have no other choice.”

Last year, Roe said more than 6 Million Americans chose to pay the IRS penalty for not having insurance rather than purchasing expensive plans from the Marketplace.

“Enrollment is actually going down in Obamacare,” Roe said, adding there were around a half-Million fewer people who signed up for insurance plans through the marketplace for 2017 than were signed up in 2016.

The Executive Order signed by Trump will allow consumers to purchase plans across state lines, something that was previously prohibited, as well as allowing small businesses and organizations to pull together in associations to negotiate for better plans and premiums.

Around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Trump held a press briefing before signing the Executive Order, which he said he believed would be very powerful for the nation and very good for a lot of people.

“We’ve been hearing about the disaster of Obamacare for so long — in my case, many years, most of it outside in civilian life,” Trump said. “And for a long period of time, since I’ve started running and since I became President of the United States, I just keep hearing ‘repeal and replace, repeal and replace.’ Well, we’re starting that process, and we’re starting it in a very positive manner.”

Trump said the implementation of the ACA “broke” the American healthcare system leading to premium increases and insurers leaving the marketplace.

“Premiums have gone skyrocketing,” Trump said. “But today, one-third of all the counties in America have only a single insurer selling coverage on an exchange, and next year it looks like nearly half of all counties in our country — think of that  — all of the counties, one half will have only one insurer. And many will have none.”

According to Trump, the Executive Order he signed on Thursday directs the Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury, and the Department of Labor to take action to increase competition, increase choice, and increase access to lower-priced, high-quality healthcare options.

“We aim to allow more small businesses to form associations to buy affordable and competitive health insurance,” Trump said. “This would open up additional options for employers to purchase the health plans their workers want.”

Trump said he is directing Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta to consider ways to expand these associations and healthcare plans across state lines as a way to increase competition.

“Today is only the beginning. In the coming months, we plan to take new measures to provide our people with even more relief and more freedom,” Trump said. “And we’re going to also pressure Congress very strongly to finish the repeal and replace of Obamacare once and for all. We will have great healthcare in our country.”