President Donald Trump's move to loosen some of the federal rules governing so-called associated health plans and short-term insurance on Thursday garnered mixed reaction in Georgia.

Republicans lauded the changes for increasing flexibility and competition and providing more lower-cost options to locals with few or no alternatives to Obamacare. Democrats and some health groups, meanwhile, warned it would undermine the Affordable Care Act by luring away young and healthy people while raising insurance premiums on the older, sicker Americans the law was designed to protect.

The changes came in the form of an executive order, which the president signed Thursday morning in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, surrounded by Cabinet officials, lawmakers and health care and business executives....