Thread: Koch Brothers' Groups Furious Over Nod to ACA Payments

Koch Brothers' Groups Furious Over Nod to ACA Payments



February 14, 2018

Steve Michaels

Two conservative groups backed by the Koch brothers are turning thumbs-down on a suggestion in President Donald Trump’s $4 trillion budget proposal to restore insurer payments under Obamacare, the Washington Examiner reports.


The paper said Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity are irate over the budget’s recommendation to restore cost-sharing payments that reimburse insurers for cutting out-of-pocket costs for low-income individuals enrolled in Obamacare.

Conservative groups have long opposed the cost-sharing reduction payments, which Trump halted in October.

"It is disappointing to see this administration proposing to restart the misguided practice of using taxpayer dollars to subsidize big insurers," Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said in a statement to The Examiner.

Freedom Partners Executive Vice President Nathan Nascimento said the Trump administration was to brand the payments a "payoff to insurance companies."

The budget also calls for funding $812 million in risk corridor payments to insurers, which were designed to stabilize premiums for people who are sicker than average or have huge medical bills by requiring that insurers with big profits essentially help defray costs for companies with large losses. The program ended in 2016, but not all insurers received their payments.

The comments from the conservative groups comes a day after Sen. Marco Rubio R, Fla., blasted the budget proposal for including in payments to Obamacare insurers.

"It's unacceptable that programs that matter to #Florida could see cuts while the gov’t continues to bail out private insurers to protect them from consequences of Obamacare," Rubio tweeted Tuesday.


I've been fighting for years to ensure we do not bail out #Obamacare,but @POTUS budget includes $ for the Obamacare risk corridors & would protect the program from automatic cuts.Why should #Obamacare Insurer Bailout program be protected & not important programs for #Florida? 1/3



https://www.newsmax.com/politics/koc.../14/id/843336/