A U.S. judge has appeared skeptical to a request from numerous states wanting him to direct Trump administration to continue payments to health insurers under Obamacare.
During a hearing in the federal court located in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria stated he aimed at issuing a ruling on the said matter soon.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration terminated the payments that covered out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for low-income American nationals. The announcement came as part of several moves made by the Trump Administration to dismantle the healthcare law set in place by the previous US President Barack Obama.
Trump had also threatened to abolish the subsidies for months which prompted healthcare insurers such as Humana Inc, Anthem Inc, Aetna Inc and UnitedHealth Group Inc to raise premiums or even exit insurance markets.
Democratic attorneys general from 18 states along with the District of Columbia have sued the federal government and even asked for an immediate directive halting Trump’s mentioned move. The case is currently being litigated. There are also concerns about the fact that terminating the payments can actually harm customers as it will cause the insurance rates to escalate.
Chhabria, on the other hand, said that California along with the other states have already anticipated Trump’s move and even worked with the insurers to ensure most consumers would remain unharmed and that weakened the case for a court order for forcing the payments.
“Why should I be ordering the administration to make these payments in the next few months while we get the case adjudicated?” Chhabria asked.
A news source has observed that since cutting off the payments, president Trump has alternately supported, and even dismissed, an effort made by the Republican and Democratic senators which may reinstate the subsidies for a period as long as two years or until a broader replacement of the Obamacare can be negotiated.
Democrats have also accused Trump of sabotaging Obamacare, but the current US the president opined that the subsidies in Obamacare actually made insurance companies rich.
