Epic legal battles shaping up over Trump's scrapping of Obamacare subsidies

By PAUL DEMKO 10/13/2017 01:55 PM EDT

President Donald Trump's move to cut off critical Obamacare subsidies will almost surely be tied up in the courts for years as Democratic-led states seek injunctions, while insurers seek to recover payments they say they’re owed.

Consumers are likely to be caught holding the bag if some Obamacare markets teeter on the verge of collapse, while most will end up paying higher premiums to make up for the shortfall, estimated at $7 billion this year alone.

“The market can only take so many shocks,” said Ceci Connolly, CEO of the Alliance of Community Health Plans. “We had hoped that a business person would have understood the implications to the market, but that seems not to be the case.”

Obamacare customers are already contending with fragile markets. Nearly half of all counties have just a single insurer selling plans, and premiums are skyrocketing in many states. Trump’s decision to cut off the subsidy payments two weeks before open enrollment begins on Nov. 1 for Obamacare’s fifth enrollment season is sure to lead to further uncertainty.

“There was a lot of anxiety that we sensed from answering members’ phone calls and inquiries about what this means to them,” said Marti Lolli, chief marketing officer for Michigan’s Priority Health. “We’re working very hard right now to calm our customers because we’ve got them covered, literally.”

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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/13/trump-end-obamacare-subsidy-legal-battles-243755