The administration of President Donald Trump has settled a long-running lawsuit over cost-sharing reduction subsidies paid to insurers as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), potentially paving the way for the payments to be restored.
The suit dates to 2014, when House Republicans sued then-President Barack Obama over the subsidies, known as CSRs, arguing the subsidies for lowering cost-sharing for low-income ACA customers had to be funded by Congress. The House won an initial ruling in the case, leaving the CSRs vulnerable when Trump took office. After several delays, Trump halted the payments in October, a move Democratic attorneys general of several states unsuccessfully tried to block.
The details of the settlement weren’t made available, according to Bloomberg, but its described as “conditional” and could lead to the payments being made once again. The threat of funding being pulled had been blamed for adding to premium hikes to ACA exchange plans in 2018 while some members of Congress have sought to include funding for CSRs in a bipartisan package to help the ACA exchanges.
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.