Obama Unwittingly Handed Trump a Weapon to Cripple the Health Law -<br />On Washington<br />WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials knew they were on shaky ground in spending<br />billions of dollars on health insurance subsidies without clear authority.<br />But neither he nor congressional Republicans were in any hurry to drop the appeal initiated by the Obama administration because<br />that would mean the subsidies would be immediately cut off, throwing the health insurance market into turmoil.<br />“We need to bring down the cost of coverage, and we need to revitalize the market so<br />that people have real choices and real access to affordable health care.”<br />Democrats and other critics say it is the Trump administration’s position on the cost-sharing payments<br />that is a chief contributor to the shakiness in the market, with insurers abandoning the program or raising premiums in anticipation of the federal dollars disappearing.<br />Republicans say the fight over the subsidies is just one element contributing to a failure of the health care law.<br />While some Democrats acknowledge that the Obama administration left the law vulnerable to attack with the way it funded<br />the subsidies, they say it is Republicans who will now pay politically if the program collapses on their watch.<br />Well, they are out of office, Mrs. Clinton is not president<br />and the uncertain status of the cost-sharing payments now looms as the biggest threat to the stability of the insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act.
