Senate Democrats are demanding the Trump administration’s records on Obamacare, and want officials to continue making payments to the cost-sharing reduction fund needed to help keep the healthcare law afloat.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, 13 Democrats also asked the administration to turn over records relating to the cost-sharing program dating back to Trump’s first day in office. The request included records pertaining to “the effect discontinuing cost-sharing reduction payments would have on health insurance premiums, health insurance coverage rates, and/or health insurer participation in the health insurance marketplaces.”
Democrats have been engaged in an ongoing debate with the Trump administration over the payments, which Republicans challenged in court during the Obama administration.
During the recent negotiations over fiscal 2017 spending, Trump administration officials signaled to Democrats that the payments would continue, at least temporarily. But now, Democrats said, it’s not clear whether the payments will be shut off.
“Over the past month, the administration has sent conflicting signals about the future of cost-sharing reduction payments,” said the letter, signed by Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Patty Murray, D-Was., and nine others.
Federal payments to insurers are considered critical to keeping the now-declining Obamacare insurance markets from completely collapsing. Many insurers have withdrawn from the marketplace due to high costs, and premiums and deductibles continue to climb significantly.
“These payments play an integral role in making health care affordable for hard-working Americans,” the letter said. “Should they stop mid-year, some insurers may stop covering Marketplace enrollees in 2017 to prevent racking up huge financial losses.”
