The Trump administration should reverse its decision to stop an Obamacare program that collects and pays out billions of dollars to health insurance companies, a group of Democrats said Monday.
The action will “further destabilize the individual and small group markets that millions of Americans rely on for health insurance,” five Democrats wrote in a letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma.
The payments, known as “risk adjustment,” are intended to reduce incentives for health insurers to try to bring in only healthy customers and avoid customers with pre-existing medical conditions that need ongoing treatment, such as cancer or diabetes. The Trump administration announced July 7 that it was putting them on hold.
Democrats asked Azar and Verma to explain their decision behind suspending the payments, saying that it appeared to be intended to “sabotage the nation’s healthcare system for partisan gain.” They asked for the identities of the officials involved in the decision and what types of analyses to gauge the impact that suspending the payments would have on the prices of Obamacare plans.
They said they were concerned that insurers may choose to leave Obamacare or increase what they charge for premiums. Without the funds, certain health insurers that have healthier customers will have higher profits, while those with sicker customers are expected to amass losses.
Officials from the Trump administration have said that they chose to put the payments on hold because of a February ruling in New Mexico in which a judge tossed out the formula used to calculate the payments, saying that it was flawed.
Democrats said the response from officials should have instead been to issue an interim final rule about the rationale.
“We disagree with the agency’s characterization that the suspension of the risk adjustment program is necessary,” they wrote.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Ron Wyden of Oregon signed the letter, as did Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, Richard Neal of Massachusetts, and Bobby Scott of Virginia.
