Congressional Democrats on Tuesday demanded that the Trump administration justify its decision to end insurer payments, accusing him of doing so not for legal reasons but to “sabotage” Obamacare.
The demand sent to the White House was just ahead of an announcement by leaders from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that they had arrived at an agreement that included appropriating the funds. It’s not clear if other lawmakers will support the deal.
In letters sent to the president and to Eric Hargan, acting secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate requested documentation to show which factors were considered in Trump’s decision to end the payments, known as cost-sharing reduction, or CSR, subsidies. They asked for any analyses that were conducted, including what impact his decision would have on health insurance costs, access to coverage, and federal spending.
A Congressional Budget Office report found that without the funds, premiums for mid-level plans would rise by an average of about 20 percent nationwide and that the federal government would spend $194 billion more over a decade because it would increase another form of subsidies meant to target premiums to make up for the losses to insurers.
Trump decided last week to end the payments, which were in legal limbo because of a House lawsuit brought against the Obama administration. Former President Barack Obama had authorized the funds, a move a judge ruled illegal because they had not been appropriated by Congress. Obama appealed the case and payments continued to go out under Trump.
Democrats have disputed the judge’s ruling and renewed their call in their most recent letter for the president to authorize the money.
“The Affordable Care Act requires, and it is your obligation under the law, to make these payments,” the Democrats wrote, using the formal name for Obamacare. “Your repeated public statements about the ACA make clear that your decision to terminate these subsidies was motivated by a desire to sabotage the law. In fact, hours after announcing your decision, you invoked payment of CSRs as a negotiating tool, tweeting, ‘Dems should call me to fix!'”
The Trump administration released a formal statement saying the payments were ended for legal reasons, though Trump had authorized the payments since becoming president and has said openly that his decision was intended to put pressure on Congress to act on healthcare.
