Trump Sabotages Obamacare by Ending Subsidies That Help Lower Costs

Payments may stop almost immediately.

Win Mcnamee/Pool/CNP/Zuma

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The Trump administration announced late Thursday night that it would no longer provide key health insurance subsidies that are intended to keep costs down for lower-income Americans. The move, widely viewed as an effort to sabotage Obamacare, has the potential to disrupt insurance markets. The subsidies, which are paid to insurance companies, help cover the cost of providing affordable coverage.

“The bailout of insurance companies through these unlawful payments is yet another example of how the previous administration abused taxpayer dollars and skirted the law to prop up a broken system,” the White House Press Office said in an emailed statement. “Congress needs to repeal and replace the disastrous Obamacare law and provide real relief to the American people.”

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

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