The Congressional Budget Office said it will release a report Tuesday afternoon that will assess the effects of cutting off Obamacare’s payments to insurers.
The report, which is being prepared with staff from the Joint Committee on Taxation, will include projections about how cutting off the funds would affect the federal budget, the stability of Obamacare exchanges and premiums, and whether it would increase the number of people who no longer have health insurance, according to a blog post on the nonpartisan budget scorekeeper’s website. A specific time for the report was not provided.
The payments, known as cost-sharing reduction subsidies, are mired in a legal battle, and insurers have said that if they do not receive them, they will look to exit the exchanges as soon as they are able or will raise unsubsidized premiums for plans sold on the exchanges by about 20 percent next year.
President Trump has said he would consider cutting off the payments as a way to bring Democrats and Republicans together to negotiate a healthcare deal. After failing to pass a bill that would repeal and replace portions of Obamacare, a handful of senators said they believed the funds should be appropriated through Congress and that they should move to do so when they return from their August recess.
The funds, expected to reach $7 billion in 2017, help insurers reduce out-of-pocket prices to low-income consumers. They were allocated under the Obama administration, spurring a lawsuit in 2014 by House Republicans who said the move was illegal because they needed to be appropriated through Congress. A federal judge agreed, and the case was appealed by the Obama administration as the payments continued to be made. Because states recently have joined the legal battle, the Trump administration can no longer drop the appeal, but it can discontinue funding.
