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 Insurers and major medical groups have warned that not funding the
payments, called cost-sharing reduction subsidies, which help cover
out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans, could wreak
havoc in the individual insurance markets. Trump told The Wall
Street Journal that by withholding the payments, Democrats will call
him to negotiate.
Major medical and insurance groups penned a letter to Trump on
Wednesday urging him to maintain funding for the subsidies, which
amount to about $7 billion a year and are paid directly to insurers.
They help cover premiums, deductibles and other medical expenses for
about 7 million people who purchase health insurance on the
individual health insurance market.
House of Representatives Republicans sued the Obama administration
for funding the subsidies, which they argue have to be appropriated
by Congress. A federal judge in May 2016 ruled in favor of the
Republicans, prompting an appeal by the Obama administration. The
case is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit.
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Major insurers, including Humana Inc and Aetna, have left or
announced their intention to leave the Obamacare exchanges, citing
multi-million-dollar losses and patient populations that are far
costlier and sicker than they expected. They warned that withholding
the subsidies would destabilize the market further and leave
millions of consumers with little or no choice in picking a health
insurance plan.
(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie
Adler)
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