The top lawyers for Washington, Oregon, and 17 other states are urging a federal judge to force President Donald Trump’s administration to pay health care subsidies that he abruptly cut off earlier this month.
State attorneys general argue the monthly payments are required under former President Barack Obama’s health care law and stopping them will harm consumers.
The Trump administration announced earlier this month that it will cut off cost-sharing reduction payments, which aim to reduce out-of-pocket costs for lower-income people. Trump has said Obama’s law is imploding and has criticized the subsidies as insurance company bailouts. The White House says the government cannot legally continue paying the subsidies because there is no formal authorization from Congress.
A bipartisan effort in Congress to restore the payments has run into opposition. The payments reimburse insurers for the costs of lowering copays and deductibles, which they are required to do for low-income customers who buy coverage through the health care marketplaces created by Obama’s law.
The states argue that the Trump administration violated a law requiring government agencies to obey existing statutes and follow orderly and transparent procedures. The states are asking a U.S. District Judge to force the government to keep making the payments while the case works its way through the courts, which will take months. (AP)
