Posted on 10/12/2017 8:05:12 PM PDT by NRx
President Trump is throwing a bomb into the insurance marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act, choosing to end critical payments to health insurers that help millions of lower-income Americans afford coverage. The decision follows an executive order on Thursday to allow alternative health plans that skirt the law’s requirements.
The White House confirmed late Thursday that it would halt federal payments for cost-sharing reductions, although a statement did not specify when. According to two people briefed on the decision, the cutoff will be as of November. The subsidies total about $7 billion this year.
Trump has threatened for months to stop the payments, which help eligible consumers afford their deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses, but held off while other administration officials warned him that such a move would cause an implosion of the ACA marketplaces that could be blamed on Republicans.
Health insurers and state regulators have been in a state of high anxiety over the prospect of the marketplaces cratering because of such White House action. The fifth year’s open-enrollment season for consumers to buy coverage through ACA exchanges will open in less than three weeks, and insurers have said that stopping the cost-sharing payments would be the single greatest step the Trump administration could take to harm the marketplaces — and the law.
Ending the payments is grounds for any insurer to back out of its federal contract to sell health plans for 2018.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“Under our Constitution, the power of the purse belongs to Congress, not the executive branch. It was in defense of this foundational principle that the House, under the leadership of former speaker John Boehner, voted in 2014 to challenge the constitutionality of spending by the Obama administration that was never approved by Congress. The House was validated last year when a federal court ruled that the Obama administration had indeed been making unauthorized and therefore illegal payments through Obamacare. 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. 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.”
>> which help eligible consumers afford their deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses
Too bad Amy doesn’t the whole story.
The Democrat Thug Party terminated my pre-ACA insurance contract. The ACA then jacked my rates by 65% while taking away our preferred hospital, doctors, pediatricians, nearby clinics, nearby labs... and Amy and thugs go on to claim the ACA saved our family.
Kill the ACA.
This is a monster win. This will lower insurance costs for a lot of people, cut payments to the uniparty lobbyists and congressmen, plus it will expand and create new associations that will fight to keep these provisions. The associations will be a new funding source for MAGA candidates.
Too bad Amy doesn’t care to know the whole story
“I can’t believe that FReepers are applauding this.”
I guess FOLLOWING THE CONSTITUTION when it comes to where spending originates is not a big deal to you...
And, by the way, if Republicans wanted an orderly wind-down of Obamacare, they had virtually all year for that.
They won, and the payments were found to be illegal and unconstitutional about 3 years ago.
Obama appealed and just kept paying.
Trump dropped the appeal in May.
“Trump is going to Go Big ...”
ABSOLUTELY. What looked like incompetence for most of the year now appears to be part of a MASTER PLAN, which was to give Congress their chance to act first. They didn’t, and so now Trump’s chance.
But the way, this interestingly lines up with Bannon’s project of taking out the Republican incumbents who won’t support Trump (or their own campaign promises, for that matter). Those TWO-FACED Republicans are now being drawn out, isolated, and about to be sent packing...per Saul Alininsky’s Rules for Radicals, #13 (and note that Mr. Alininski’s rules apply to ‘radicals’...not just leftists, and Trump is clearly a radical).
Feel free to pray more. Unlike your internet data plan; that whole “being God” thing includes unlimited bandwidth.
As a patriotic citizen, I applaud Trump’s move.
As a realist, I wonder what the heck kind of “association” I could join. An association for those not easily fitting into some sort of association?
Does anyone have any guesses what plans from associations may look like? (Premiums, deductibles, etc.?) You could lower premiums and deductibles 50% and my daughter & I would have still almost useless insurance whose premiums I could not afford.
I think we are too late (until Fall 2018) for my daughter and I to go on my wife’s plan where she works. If we could, the premium payments would exceed her salary - and mind you that plan is only a little better “coverage” than an Obummer-care bronze policy. But, we make too much to go on Medicaid.
So... As a realist I know the true problem is health care costs. I also know I’m getting to an age where even tho’ I’ve been an unusually healthy individual all my life, something serious is likely to crop up in the next several years. Despite working hard, making a decent (but certainly not “great”) middle-class income, living frugally, and in general saving, investing, and managing my $$ fairly well, I think... odds are I will be destitute at age 70 — because of our health care system.
This in some ways parallels my Dad and I watching him decline, knowing he was going to die. I have known for some time that the health care system in the US was unsustainable, and the worst for me personally would probably hit when I needed it. But if one thinks about it too much, it’s depressing and saps one’s spirit. So, I mostly try to put it in the back of my mind and hope for the best.
That’s shattered now. It is hard medicine. I know it is for the best, for the most people in the future, and for the country. I also know (to steal a line from Babylon 5) “sometimes the test is not to find the answer. It’s to see how you react when you realize there is no answer.”
I wonder if the Kurds would take a 60-something slightly overweight guy with no military experience...
Yep, that’s the way it is, isn’t it? Nice post.
President Trump does not pull his punches.
Paul- my husband was a subcontractor (Insuarance agent no less) and needed coverage. We refused to put him on Obamacare and the rate on my insurance policy was extremely high. He joined Christian Ministries plan. It was not called health insurance, but has thousands of members. He paid $150 a month for their Gold plan I believe it was called. You are also required to make a donation toward others care as well. Not dictated to the donation amount, just whatever you can spare.
He had an incident that was a $14,000 hospital stay with Doctors for 2 days. According to their plan, $500.00 deductible, that entire bill was paid in 120 days just as the plan stated. Here is the catch, you must negotiate the bills with the hospital and doctors yourself. It was a very empowering experience! We no longer need the coverage, but for 1 1/2 years that was a God send.
There are other groups like that. Check Credit unions for instance.
Use the Internet to seek out information.
Hope this helps.
The subsidies were found illegal by a federal judge as a result of republicans lawsuit. They should have already ended. This wasn’t an EO out of the dark it was following the law.
This is done after the best outcome (legislative repeal) was unsuccessful thanks to the brain-damaged McCain. Most would argue that the aforementioned repeal was bad bc it actually entrenched 0bamacares subsidies.
The next president cannot reinstate this illegal subsidy. But he could just overturn EOs that exempt congress etc. IMO ending the subsidies will almost immediately crash 0care. This with the new ability to form groups across state lines means we have a little competition and that’s good I sure hope I get a new plan...
I’m happy I have Blue Shield.
was there a ruling that they are indeed unconstitutional?
Well, if trump had a real AG, he could have him advise Trump that the subsidies are unconsitutuional and need to be dropped or phased out.
But we have the little fascist creep named jeffie sessions who is a good for nothing globalist shill, so I doubt that this approach would work.
Here is an example, aka "Association of Home Building Contractors".
Fictitious, but appropriate!
I’m in the same boat as you. Have been waiting 40 years to be able to buy insurance that allows me to quit a soul crushing job. I’m hoping for all kinds of associations; for example, “association of people that live on Virginia’s eastern shore.” Why not?
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