Trump to stop paying Obamacare subsidies for the poor
President Donald Trump plans to end a key set of Obamacare subsidies that helped lower-income Americans pay for health care.
The White House made it known that the Trump Administration would end
the Affordable Care Act's cost-sharing reduction payments. The Act
particularly helps people earning between 100 percent and 250 percent of
the poverty level pay for the insurance and health care they get.
The dramatic move by the Trump administration raises questions about
the law's future. Health care experts have warned that not paying the
subsidies could send the health insurance exchanges into turmoil.
The payments, which started under the Obama administration, had been
continued by President Trump but on Thursday the White House said since
there was no appropriation for it, "the Government cannot lawfully make
the cost-sharing reduction payments."
The White House said in a statement: "The bailout of insurance
companies through these unlawful payments is yet another example of how
the previous administration abused taxpayer dollars and skirted the law
to prop up a broken system. Congress needs to repeal and replace the
disastrous Obamacare law and provide real relief to the American
people."
The announcement is part of Trump's aggressive push to dismantle
aspects of Obama's signature health law after several failed attempts by
Congress to repeal it earlier this year. In a series of tweets Friday
morning, Trump called on Democrats to reach out to him to "fix" the law,
which he called a "broken mess."
Trump tweeted: "The Democrats ObamaCare is imploding. Massive subsidy
payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. Dems should call
me to fix!"
The news was not received well by Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill.
In a joint statement, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the move "a
spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage."
The leaders said in a statement: "Sadly, instead of working to lower
health costs for Americans, it seems President Trump will singlehandedly
hike Americans' health premiums. Make no mistake about it, Trump will
try to blame the Affordable Care Act, but this will fall on his back and
he will pay the price for it."
But GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, a member of the House Freedom Caucus,
defended the President's decision to CNN's Chris Cuomo on CNN's "New
Day" Friday morning.
"These (cost sharing reduction) payments are in fact illegal. The
President said he is no longer going to engage in making these payments,
so let's move forward and do what we should have done a long time ago,"
he said, later adding, "Obamacare is a mess and we need to replace the
whole thing, repeal the whole thing."
In a statement issued shortly after Thursday's announcement, House
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., said the decision "preserves a monumental
affirmation of Congress's authority and the separation of powers."
"Obamacare has proven itself to be a fatally flawed law, and the
House will continue to work with Trump administration to provide the
American people a better system," Ryan said.
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