Labor Dept. Has Health-Care Pitch for GOP Candidates

The Trump administration’s fast-tracked effort to bolster small business health coverage is poised for release just in time for GOP candidates to tell midterm voters that relief from Obamacare is on the way after all.

For the past seven months, Labor Department officials have been rocketing the association health plan rulemaking through the typically plodding regulatory process. Now one bureaucratic step removed from final publication, the rule is on the cusp of helping 11 million people sign up for employer-sponsored benefits as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act’s individual marketplace, according to administration estimates.

But Americans complaining about soaring ...