AGs Seek To Compel Trump Administration To Pay Vital Subsidies That Make Health Care Affordable For Most Vulnerable
Today, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and a coalition of Attorneys General filed a motion to compel the federal government to follow the law and pay the vital health care subsidies on which thousands of New Yorkers and millions of Americans rely to afford health insurance. Today’s filing follows a lawsuit filed last week by the coalition of 19 Attorneys General.
Last week, the Trump Administration abruptly refused to make the October cost-sharing reduction payments required under the Affordable Care Act, which reduce co-payments, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income Americans. Under the Affordable Care Act, these payments are made monthly to insurance companies. Cutting off the subsidies has already destabilized the healthcare market; New York insurance plans alone face a hit of millions of dollars in money that had previously been budgeted, leading to rising insurance rates for New Yorkers.
“President Trump’s abrupt move to cut these subsidies is reckless, dangerous, – and illegal,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “These payments are vital to thousands of New Yorkers and millions of Americans who rely on them to afford their health care. Yet President Trump is using those families as political pawns, putting their lives at risk to advance his own partisan agenda. We won’t stand for it – and we’re moving to block these dangerous cuts before they do any more harm.”
In May, Attorney General Schneiderman and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, leading a coalition of Attorneys General, moved to intervene in House v. Price in order to protect millions of Americans’ access to affordable health care. The DC Circuit granted their intervention in August.