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 The 16 attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Xavier
Becerra and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, filed a
motion to intervene in the case pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The case, which dates back to the Obama administration, was filed by
the Republican-led House of Representatives against the federal
government in an effort to cut off subsidy payments to insurers for
the individual plans created by the Affordable Care Act, often
called Obamacare.
The subsidies payments help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for
low-income Americans.
"The stakes are very high. In Maryland we have more than 400,000
people who depend on the Affordable Care Act to get normal
healthcare. It sounds alarming, but it's true: lives are at stake,"
said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who signed on to the
filing.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to withhold the payments to
insurers, which amount to about $7 billion this year, and referred
to them as a "bailout."
The attorneys general cited in the court filing Trump's own words
vowing to let Obamacare "explode" as part of the reasoning for their
intervention.
Trump has made it clear he views decisions on health insurance for
millions of Americans “as little more than political bargaining
chips," the court filing said. The situation is extremely urgent,
the Democratic officials argued, because state insurance regulators
are making critical choices that will shape their insurance markets
for the next year.
Several insurers, including Aetna <AET.N> and Humana <HUM.N>, have
largely left the Obamacare exchanges, citing a pool of patients who
are sicker than expected and therefore more expensive. Insurers have
also repeatedly called on the Trump administration to fund the
cost-sharing subsidies.
Attorneys general and proponents of Obamacare have said the threats
to withhold the payments have already wreaked havoc in the
marketplaces and are part of the reason some healthcare consumers
have seen double-digit rate increases.
SIGNIFICANT OPPONENTS
Democratic attorneys general have emerged as significant opponents
to the Trump administration. They took a lead role to successfully
block Trump's executive orders restricting travel from some
Muslim-majority countries, and they are also resisting efforts to
roll back environmental regulations.
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The attorney general from Kentucky, a deeply conservative state, is
among those Democrats joining the court filing even as the state's
Republican governor has pledged to rollback a Medicaid expansion
made possible by Obamacare.
In May 2016, a U.S. judge ruled in favor of the Republicans in the
subsidies case, finding that the Obama administration needed
explicit congressional approval. The Obama administration appealed
before Trump took office, leaving the new administration to ponder
how to proceed.
The appeals court put the litigation on hold after the November
presidential election at the request of the Republican House
lawmakers.
The motion to intervene may not be granted by the court. In
February, the same court rejected a similar motion filed by
Democratic attorneys general seeking to help defend the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau in a legal battle that could defang the
agency.
The litigation could become moot if Congress passes new healthcare
legislation to replace Obamacare. The House passed a bill, called
the American Health Care Act, earlier this month. The Senate
recently began writing its own version of the bill but has warned it
could take months to pass.
The Trump administration has taken action over the past several
months to undercut Obamacare through regulatory authority. It backed
off enforcing the individual mandate, which requires everyone to
purchase health insurance or else pay a penalty, tightened
enrollment in Obamacare markets and has enabled people to sign up
for insurance plans outside of healthcare.gov, the flagship site of
Obamacare that the Obama administration heavily advertised.
(Editing by Alistair Bell)
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