White House and Top Republicans Push Back
Late last week President Donald Trump drove a stake into the heart of ObamaCare by announcing he had decided, effective immediately, he would no longer make critical cost-sharing payments to insurance companies, known as CSRs. Those payments are critical to the stability of the health care exchanges, but Trump decided they were illegal because Congress had not specifically appropriated funds for them.
This year those payments are expected to total about $7 billion, and next year $9 billion. Trump’s announcement, the Congressional Budget Office estimated, would add an extra 20 percent to monthly premiums, likely driving millions of Americans out of the ObamaCare health exchanges and leaving them without coverage.
Tuesday afternoon, Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Republican Senator Lamar Alexander announced they had come to an agreement on a bill that would allow the federal government, without Trump, to make those payments for the next two years.
Within minutes the White House pushed back, making it clear the Trump administration has no goal other than to kill ObamaCare.
NBC Capitol Hill reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell†reports that Marc Short, the White House Director of Legislative Affairs and Deputy Assistant to the President, says, basically, no.
The bill of course would also have to pass the House. The uber-conservative Republican Study Group also just panned it:
And, of course, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also is offering exactly zero support:
Oddly, President Donald Trump, asked about the bill briefly at a joint press conference with the prime minster of Greece, offered mild support for the bill – expect that to change.
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