Republican House leaders said they felt vindicated by a judge’s ruling Thursday that the White House didn’t properly receive congressional approval for an Obamacare subsidy.
House Speaker Paul Ryan called the win “historic.”
“The court ruled that the administration overreached by spending taxpayer money without approval from the people’s representatives,” he said in a statement.
Another lawmaker said House lawmakers were vindicated because “we have known for quite some time — that the administration does not have the authority to spend over $150 billion for payments to insurance companies without an appropriation from Congress,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled in favor of the House GOP in a lawsuit over the appropriations of cost-sharing reductions, which are payments given to insurers to help them pay for lower deductibles and co-pays for low-income Obamacare enrollees.
The judge said the Constitution says the money for the cost-sharing reductions must be appropriated by Congress.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the House scored a victory against what it deemed executive overreach from the White House.
“This decision is a critical step in protecting Congress’s power of the purse from an administration that has repeatedly ignored a fundamental principle of our republic: the separation of powers,” Brady said.
The lawsuit was proposed by House Speaker John Boehner in 2014.
The administration has not announced if it will appeal the ruling. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that the administration has a strong legal argument.
He also slammed House Republicans for continuing to attack the Affordable Care Act.
“It is unfortunate that Republicans have resorted a taxpayer-funded lawsuit to refight a political fight that they keep losing,” Earnest said.
Upton sought to pivot to how the ruling could affect the 5 million people who receive lower deductibles or co-pays thanks to the cost-sharing reduction payments.
He said that while insurance companies no longer would get the payments, “individual cost-sharing levels are set by law. Today’s decision refers solely to payments to insurers.”
However, a report from the left-leaning Urban Institute issued in January found that premiums would increase if the cost-sharing reduction payments were eliminated.
The Washington think tank’s study found it could lead to more federal spending due to higher premium increases without the payments. Urban found that the premiums for the silver marketplace plans, the most popular option on Obamacare, would increase by $1,040 per person on average.
The insurance lobby isn’t ready to give up the fight on the lawsuit, though, especially as its members could bear greater costs if the ruling stands.
“There is a long judicial process ahead before a final decision is made,” according to America’s Health Insurance Plans, the insurance industry’s main lobbying group.
The ruling comes at a pivotal time for Obamacare, as insurers are now submitting rates for plans in 2017 and deciding whether to stay in the marketplaces next year.
