Obamacare customers want to continue House lawsuit fight

Two Obamacare customers want to push ahead against a lawsuit that would end cost-sharing payments to insurers if Donald Trump decides to drop an appeal after becoming president next month.

A motion to intervene was filed in the D.C. Court of Appeals on Tuesday to intervene as defendants in a lawsuit initially brought by the House against the Obama administration. Gustavo Parker and La Trina Patton filed the motion, as they are among 5.9 million people who are eligible to receive the law’s cost-sharing reductions.

Former House Speaker John Boehner in 2014 filed the lawsuit that challenged the administration over Obamacare’s cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers.

Insurers are required by law to lower the copays and deductibles for certain low-income Obamacare customers. The administration reimburses the insurers for the cost-sharing reductions.

The administration argues that the cost-sharing payments are not subject to congressional appropriations. The law’s tax credits that lower premiums also are not subject to appropriations.

But the House argued otherwise, saying that while the law protected the tax credits from appropriation oversight, it didn’t extend the same protection to the cost-sharing reduction payments. So the House sued the executive branch to ensure the cost-sharing payments go under appropriation purview.

In separate rulings, a federal judge agreed that not only did the House have standing to challenge the White House, but also sided with the House over the cost-sharing payments.

The Obama administration appealed both rulings, but President-elect Trump could drop those appeals once he assumes the presidency next month. A federal judge this month delayed a ruling on the appeal until after Trump is inaugurated.

The legal motion to intervene argues that Patton and Parker would be hurt because they would lose their Obamacare plans in 2017 if the cost-sharing payments to insurers are taken away. The federal judge stayed her ruling on the cost-sharing payments until an appeal was exhausted.

“Recipients of the cost-sharing reductions who purchased health care insurance policies for 2017 will likely face early termination of those policies, because the federal government permits insurers to leave the exchanges in the event cost-sharing reimbursement payments cease,” the motion said.

If Trump decides to drop the appeal, then the judge’s order could go into effect and the cost-sharing payments would cease, the motion added.

However, Congress could decide to fund the cost-sharing payments temporarily. The Republican-controlled Congress and Trump have pledged to quickly repeal Obamacare, but would leave it intact for a few years while a GOP replacement plan is created and installed.

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