« Kansas Teacher Barred from Employment for Supporting BDSAmerica and France Reject Democratic Venezuelan Regional Election Results »

States Sue Trump for Cutting Off Healthcare Subsidies

October 18th, 2017

Stephen Lendman

If America had universal healthcare like all other developed nations and many others, the only issue would be improving it, making it the world’s best.

Instead, it’s a national disgrace, by far the world’s most expensive, increasingly unaffordable for tens of millions of households - forced to go uninsured or way underinsured, leaving them vulnerable in case of serious illnesses or injuries.

Medicaid is bare bones, woefully inadequate and unacceptable. So are the actions of the world’s richest nation waging class war, eroding social justice, devoting its resources increasingly for militarism, endless wars of aggression, and corporate favoritism - the country thirdworldized to pursue this agenda.

Monied interests never had things better, the system rigged to serve them at the expense of most others, a deplorable system worsening, not improving.

Trump’s ending healthcare subsidies for low-income households was a contemptible act, a scheme to pressure Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with a more dysfunctional system than already, freeing up billions in federal revenues for greater warmaking and tax cuts for the rich.

States are outraged, 19 attorneys general suing in federal court to reverse his action. Maybe others will join them.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said “(h)undreds of thousands of New York families rely on the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies for their health care.” Cutting them off is “unacceptable.”

“I will not allow President Trump to once again use New York families as political pawns in his dangerous, partisan campaign to eviscerate the Affordable Care Act at any cost.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said “(t)aking these legally required subsidies away from working families’ health plans and forcing them to choose between paying rent or their medical bills is completely reckless. This is sabotage, plain and simple.”

Other states suing so far include Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington plus the District of Columbia.

The suit targets Trump, Acting HHS Secretary Eric Hargan, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Department, and DOES 1 - 20 (meaning other potentially liable administration officials).

It states “(t)he Administration’s new refusal to make the required federal payments directly subverts the ACA, and will injure the Plaintiff States, their residents, and the entire healthcare system.”

“The loss of funds and financial uncertainty caused by their actions will lead to higher health insurance costs for consumers and to insurers abandoning the individual health insurance market.”

“The number of uninsured Americans will increase once again, hurting vulnerable individuals and directly burdening the States.”

“The unlawful refusal to make CSR reimbursement payments will also substantially complicate the States’ efforts to administer their healthcare markets and in some instances leave consumers with no health plan to access despite their federal entitlements under the ACA.”

“Indeed, across the nation, there are 1,472 counties with only one insurer. The Administration’s refusal to make CSR reimbursement payments will cause some insurers to pull out of the market, leaving many counties vulnerable and without health insurance coverage.”

Plaintiffs seek “declaratory and injunctive relief to compel the President and the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and the Treasury to make CSR reimbursement payments in accordance with the ACA and its permanent appropriation.”

Families USA called ending subsidies “the most malicious and harmful attack yet by the Trump Administration on the Affordable Care Act.”

Without subsidies to insurers, they’ll raise premiums substantially. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the move will cost the federal government $194 billion over the next decade, spent for other subsidies 10 million Americans receive to purchase insurance.

The number of uninsured in the country will increase sharply over the next ten years. Insurers will abandon more markets than already.

If allowed to stand, Trump’s action will harm millions of Americans. Will he issue a follow-up executive order, abolishing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid even though he can’t legally?

He serves privileged Americans exclusively - too hell with all the rest his credo!

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman)

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Virus-free. www.avg.com

No feedback yet

Voices

Voices

  • Reidar Kaarboe Hva Mener Partiene In connection with the war in Ukraine, the USA owes several apologies to the Russians. Once they are given, it will be pretty clear who should do what with whom to achieve lasting peace, even though the war in Ukraine…
  • Robert David Robert David examines Holocaust purism and its denial of genocides like the Holodomor and Armenian Genocide, highlighting the ethical and political consequences of selective historical memory. #GenocideRecognition #HolocaustPurism…
  • By David Swanson, World BEYOND War According to Columbia Magazine , published by Columbia University’s Office of Alumni and Development, but ultimately named for a brutal imperialist mercenary, in 1933 while Nazis in Germany were burning books by Jews,…
  • Paul Craig Roberts Trump and Zelensky have agreed on a cease fire, a pause in the conflict. How does this benefit Russia? It doesn’t. The Ukrainian military is collapsing on all fronts. 86% of the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk has been retaken, and the…
  • Tracy Turner Chupacabra America: A nation gripped by greed, excess, and decline. Explore the stark contrast between America's stagnant Trumpcession societal rot and Europe's prosperous sustainable progress in this eye-opening critique by Tracy Turner.…
  • Cathy Smith Explore the decline of modern Christianity from televangelist scandals and prosperity gospel corruption to church schisms and socioeconomic divides, this analysis reveals how materialism and greed have overshadowed the transformative spirit…
  • Chris Spencer Syria's Alawites were seen as favored by the regime of Bashar al Assad, now more than 1,300 Alawites have been murdered in 2025 in Syria. Early 2025 saw Syria's fragile post-Assad situation degenerate into a brutal cycle of sectarian…
  • Fred Gransville There was something unusual on the White House driveway on March 11, 2025. Elon Musk was selling Tesla vehicles in collaboration with Donald Trump, the sitting President of the United States. From conducting business at the White House…
  • By Tracy Turner Uncover the toxic history of U.S. industrial and military pollution, from Hanford to Camp Lejeune. This inquiry exposes how government and corporate inaction have led to cancer clusters, ecological destruction, and human agony. Explore…
  • By Mark Aurelius 70% of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza are women and children This essay contains controversial statements that could alarm people who are not tolerant of contentious assertions or questions, such as regarding religious beliefs,…
March 2025
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 << <   > >>
            1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31          

  XML Feeds

Web Site Engine
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted articles and information about environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. This news and information is displayed without profit for educational purposes, in accordance with, Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Thepeoplesvoice.org is a non-advocacy internet web site, edited by non-affiliated U.S. citizens. editor
ozlu Sozler GereksizGercek Hava Durumu Firma Rehberi Hava Durumu Firma Rehberi E-okul Veli Firma Rehberi