Donald Trump started Friday by taunting Democrats over his decision to end subsidy payments to insurers who sell medical policies under the Obamacare system – and telling them on Twitter to ‘call me’ if they want to fix the ‘broken’ law.
The White House announced late Thursday night that it will end the flow of money known as ‘cost-sharing reduction payments’ which a federal court has found were never authorized by Congress.
The federal government has paid out about $7 billion in that money this year,
Trump’s decision to end his predecessor’s appeal of that ruling means Obamacare’s death spiral could tighten and speed up.
So the president is using the occasion to goad Democrats into working with him on a long-term fix.
‘CALL ME’: President Trump is goading Democrats into working with him on an Obamacare fix now that he’s ended billions of dollars in subsidy payments to health insurance companies
‘BROKEN MESS’: The president continues to argue that the Obamacare system is in a financial death spiral and needs a wholesale replacement
‘The Democrats[‘] ObamaCare is imploding. Massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. Dems should call me to fix!’ he wrote Friday morning on Twitter.
‘ObamaCare is a broken mess. Piece by piece we will now begin the process of giving America the great HealthCare it deserves!’ Trump added in a second tweet.
The Trump administration said Thursday that based on guidance from the Justice Department, ‘the Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that there is no appropriation for cost-sharing reduction payments to insurance companies under Obamacare.’
‘In light of this analysis, the Government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments,’ the statement said.
‘The bailout of insurance companies through these unlawful payments is yet another example of how the previous administration abused taxpayer dollars and skirted the law to prop up a broken system.’
Democrats howled in protest.
In a statement Thursday night House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer slammed the decision as a ‘spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage’
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer slammed the decision in a joint statement as a ‘spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage.’
The administration has recognized that halting the payments it calls ‘unlawful’ will deal a critical blow to Barack Obama’s hallmark piece of legislation.
Ending the payments was one of Trump’s campaign promises before he was elected in 2016.
These payments may stop almost immediately, though that timeline is not clear, since they are paid in monthly installments that Congress must green-light.
Trump finally decided to take the action to end the payments after the GOP failed multiple times to repeal and replace Obamacare on Capitol Hill.
The Affordable Care Act was President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation, but the government is still working out 7 years later how its pieces fit together and which of its financial moving parts are unworkable
Schumer issued a series of tweets condemning the decision late Thursday night just as it was announced.
‘Sadly, instead of working to lower health costs for Americans, it seems @POTUS will singlehandedly hike America’s health premiums,’ he wrote.
‘It is a spiteful act of vast, pointless sabotage leveled at working families and the middle class in every corner of America.
‘Make no mistake about it, @POTUS will try to blame the Affordable Care Act, but this will fall on his back and he will pay the price for it.’
Earlier on Thursday Trump signed an executive order in a move he claims is ‘saving the American people from the nightmare of Obamacare.’
Schumer issued a series of tweets condemning the decision late Thursday night just as it was announced
House Speaker Paul Ryan praised Trump’s move, saying it showed respect for Congress’ constitutional ‘power of the purse.’
The Obama White House began making the subsidy payments in 2011 despite knowing the Affordable Care Act didn’t provide for them.
‘Today’s decision by the Trump administration to end the appeal of that ruling preserves a monumental affirmation of Congress’s authority and the separation of powers,’ Ryan said late Thursday in a statement.
‘Obamacare has proven itself to be a fatally flawed law, and the House will continue to work with Trump administration to provide the American people a better system.’
In August the Congressional Budget Office said that this move of stopping the cost-sharing reduction payments will drive up federal marketplace subsidy costs, raise premiums, cause more insurers to withdraw from the marketplaces, and increase the number of people uninsured, according to the New York Post.
Regardless of that warning the President wrote on Twitter that the move will ‘IMPROVE access, INCREASE choices, and LOWER COSTS for HEALTHCARE!’
He has threatened for months to cut off the payments, belittling them as a ‘bailout’ for insurers. And though many GOP lawmakers are not fans of Obamacare, most were also wary of them ending suddenly.
In August the Congressional Budget Office said that this move of stopping the cost-sharing reduction payments will drive up federal marketplace subsidy costs, raise premiums, cause more insurers to withdraw from the marketplaces, and increase the number of people uninsured, according to the New York Post. He is pictured signing the Executive Order that promotes healthcare choice and competition on Thursday afternoon
Regardless of that warning the President wrote on Twitter that the move will ‘IMPROVE access, INCREASE choices, and LOWER COSTS for HEALTHCARE!’
‘Cutting health care subsidies will mean more uninsured in my district,’ Republican representative for Florida Ileana Ros-Lehtinen tweeted when the decision was announced Thursday.
‘@POTUS promised more access, affordable coverage. This does opposite.’
Some insurers are likely to sue the administration over the failure to make payments, believing they are entitled to them under the Affordable Care Act, which, much to Trump’s chagrin, is still law of the land.
Trump says that Democrats will take the blame if the markets implode, but according to recent polling done by Politico, the public will find that the blame lies with the Republicans for the ACA’s issues under Trump’s watch.