In the latest evidence yet that Donald Trump is blatantly sabotaging the Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump is planning to cut off “critical subsidy payments to insurers selling Obamacare plans,” according to a new report on Thursday.
According to Politico, this is the president’s “most aggressive move yet” to take an ax to former President Barack Obama’s historic health care law.
More from the report:
The decision to end the payments, worth an estimated $7 billion this year, marks Trump’s most aggressive move yet to dismantle Obamacare after months of failed GOP repeal efforts on Capitol Hill. The move is likely to draw lawsuits and may put pressure on Congress to appropriate funding for the subsidies, which help insurers reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income Obamacare customers.
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The decision follows Trump’s signing of an executive order earlier today that directs federal agencies to rewrite regulations to encourage the rise of a raft of cheap, loosely regulated health insurance plans that don’t have to comply with certain Obamacare consumer protections and benefit rules. Trump touted the move as a step toward unwinding Obamacare.
As Sen. Dick Durbin tweeted out shortly after the news broke, scrapping these key Obamacare subsidies will raise premiums by 20 percent.
The news comes hours after Trump signed an executive order rolling back key parts of Obamacare, which experts say will likely send insurance markets into complete chaos and drive up costs for older, sicker Americans.
While the president and his Republican allies in Congress have spent years trying to convince the American people that they simply wanted to replace the Affordable Care Act with something better for the country, Trump’s actions on Thursday have completely pulled back the curtain.
For the president, his continued efforts to repeal Obamacare are not about enacting sound policy or improving the health care system so more Americans have access to quality, low-cost care. This is about scoring cheap political points, even if it hurt real people.
The latest moves by the White House show that Donald Trump will do anything – even sabotage a health care law that millions of Americans rely on – if it destroys any part of Barack Obama’s legacy.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
