Trump's Tweets Threaten To Destabilize Insurance Markets
The president says he may cut off payments to insurance companies. These are federal payments that help insurers discount the price of the health plans they sell to people who have lower incomes.
President Trump took to Twitter this week to threaten insurance companies that he may withhold crucial government payments in an effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
It's not the first time the president has threatened to cut off these payments to insurers, which he refers to as "BAILOUTS."
But these payments aren't designed to compensate insurers for business failures. Rather they for discounts the law requires them to give to low-income people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The federal money that goes to insurers or CSRs, offsets the money insurers lose by lowering the deductibles and co-payments they require of these policyholders.
