The Trump administration will continue to pay out Obamacare subsidies in a move that should help reassure insurance providers and give the GOP more time to regroup after losing the votes required to pass the Senate repeal and replace bill.
The administration has reportedly decided to pay cost sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies for the month of July, days before the deadline in place for the payments, administration official told Axios.
CSRs offer additional subsidies on deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses to any individual or family whose income is between 100 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty line.
House Republicans sued in 2014 to halt the payment of CSRs and the Trump administration asked the Federal Court of Appeals to delay its ruling for 90 days. This has led to increased uncertainty for health care providers who filed for 2018 premium increases without knowing if they can count on a check from the federal government. (Related: The Potentially ‘Unconstitutional’ Obamacare Feature Everyone Is Ignoring)
The Trump administration has not elaborated on whether they will continue making CSR payments in the coming months, but President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to let Obamacare collapse, which would be expedited if the administration stopped payments.
Many insurance companies have announced that they will not participate in Obamacare exchanges, and some states have lost all Obamacare insurance providers for 2018.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told a Bloomberg Government audience Tuesday that the Trump administration is avoiding long-term commitments on the issue, according to the Independent Journal Review.
“We are looking at the cost-sharing payments on a month-to-month basis. We made them today. We’ll make them tomorrow. But I don’t think we’ll see a long-term commitment from this administration,” Mulvaney said.
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