A Federal Judge in San Francisco has ordered that the Trump Administration will not have to immediately resume paying subsidies that prop up the cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments that assist low-income individuals in purchasing healthcare plans from the Obamacare market.
BREAKING: U.S. judge will not force Trump administration to immediately resume paying subsidies under Obama's health law.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 25, 2017
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, an Obama appointee, argued that Trump had the stronger legal argument and that eliminating the CSR’s will make little difference since the states have already prepared their own markets to keep in insurance market stable.
The GOP claimed that the Obama executive order that allowed these payments to occur was signed illegally, as only Congress has the power of the purse, and the order was not signed off on by the Republican majority congress when the order was issued.
Trump ceased payments to the CSR — valued at $7 billion — earlier this month when he signed an executive order allowing the creation of group insurance plans across state lines.
The lack of CSR’s is a crippling blow to Obamacare, as insurance companies will no longer be able to rely on federal government funding to make up for the lack of income.
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