July 31, 2017
ALL COMEDY IS CONSERVATIVE:
Lawsuits could force feds to pay Obamacare insurers : The companies claim the federal government owes them billions from a program meant to stabilize Obamacare marketplaces. (PAUL DEMKO 07/30/2017, Politico)
A pending court decision could force the Trump administration to pump billions of dollars into Obamacare insurers, even as the president threatens to let the health care law "implode."Health insurers have filed nearly two dozen lawsuits claiming the government owes them payments from a program meant to blunt their losses in the Obamacare marketplaces. That raises the prospect that the Trump administration will have to bankroll a program the GOP has pilloried as an insurer bailout.Insurers are owed more than $8 billion in payments, and the tab is likely to grow. Insurers say spending restrictions Republicans forced on the "risk corridors" program during the Obama administration, aside from being illegal, are partly to blame for severe turbulence in some Obamacare marketplaces. [...]The fiscal hit to the feds could be huge if the insurers win. And it would be one more embarrassing setback for Republicans, who likely saw their best shot at dismantling Obamacare slip away in the Senate's failed repeal vote early Friday morning.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 31, 2017 1:41 PM