18 States Sue to Stop Trump's ObamaCare Cut

Trump boasts about health stocks falling
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2017 9:23 AM CDT
18 States Sue to Stop Trump's ObamaCare Cut
The Healthcare.gov website is seen on a laptop computer in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

President Trump's move to axe a major ObamaCare subsidy has been taken to court—and it's probably going to be there for years to come, analysts say. The Democratic attorneys general of 18 states and Washington, DC filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday, the day after the White House said it plans to end "cost-sharing reduction" payments to insurers, which subsidize insurance that lower-income Americans buy through ObamaCare exchanges, reports Reuters. "Health Insurance stocks, which have gone through the roof during the ObamaCare years, plunged yesterday after I ended their Dems windfall!" Trump boasted in a tweet early Saturday. Insurance companies are also expected to challenge the move.

Trump says he wants to dismantle ObamaCare "step by step." Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the federal government won't make the next payment to insurers, which is due Wednesday. The states that filed suit Friday want the federal court to order the government to make the payment, though analysts say the chances of getting an injunction are slim. "Forcing an administration to continue making payments when the president believes there is no appropriation, and when Congress believes there’s no appropriation, would be a pretty extreme move by the court—even if it was a temporary measure," Nicholas Bagley, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, tells Politico. (More ObamaCare stories.)

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