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Md involved in "successful" ACA subsidies workaround

Posted at 3:13 AM, Jul 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-18 03:13:17-04

Maryland is one of 18 states involved in a workaround to counter Trump administration cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Officials in those states say their effort has been successful when it comes to protecting consumers from higher costs.

The assessment came late Monday in a court filing asking U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria to put a lawsuit involving the cuts on hold.

The filing says states have mostly protected subsidized consumers by allowing insurers to raise premiums on some plans offered on health care exchanges.

The increases triggered additional tax credits for users who qualify for subsidies on copays and deductibles, it states.

The U.S. Department of Justice said it had no comment.

President Donald Trump announced last October that he was ending government payments intended to reimburse insurers for providing low-income people with discounts on out-of-pocket costs.

He said then that former President Barack Obama's health care law was imploding, and he criticized the subsidies as insurance company bailouts. The White House also said Congress had not formally authorized the government to make the payments.

States filed the lawsuit along with the District of Columbia. They said they had started working on ways to protect consumers in anticipation of the administration's decision.

The strategy they chose has "provided some stability to help ensure a functioning insurance market," the court filing said.

Last year, Chhabria rejected the lawsuit's push for him to force the Trump administration to resume paying the subsidies right away.

The states said the administration wants Chhabria to dismiss the lawsuit, not put it on hold.

The states said they want the suit to remain alive in case the administration moves to ban the workaround.