President Donald Trump announced that the federal government would no longer provide funds to medical insurers to help lower costs of premiums as has been the case since the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, was passed into legislation. The reimbursements from the government were a major reason many people could afford healthcare coverage under the law. Since Trump’s Republican allies in Congress failed to repeal Obamacare, on multiple occasions, through the democratic process, Trump is now taking matters into his own hands. He has consistently said Obamacare is failing and now there is a chance it ultimately will, not because of the program itself, but because of Trump’s actions.
“Based on guidance from the Department of Justice, 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,” a statement from the White House said according to a story from NBC News.
The statement fails to mention that there is no appropriation for cost-sharing reduction of health insurance costs because the president decided not to provide any.
As reported by NBC News, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported in August that ending the subsidies would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 1 million people in 2018 and that the federal budget would increase by $6 billion in 2018. If the CBO is correct, Trump just ensured that 1 million less people would have health insurance and the federal deficit would increase by $6 billion in only a year.
One of the key aspects of Obamacare is it required everyone to purchase a health insurance plan or face financial penalties for doing so. The theory behind this is that the more people that are covered costs of plans would decrease. If that theory is correct and 1 million more people lose health insurance next year, costs of plans would also increase for everyone else.
