Judge rejects bid by 18 US states to revive Obamacare subsidies

SAN FRANCISCO/ WASHINGTON: A US judge in California on Wednesday refused to block President Donald Trump’s decision to end subsidy payments to health insurers under Obamacare, rejecting a request by Democratic attorneys general from 18 US states.

USDistrictJudgeVinceChhabria in San Francisco sided with the Trump administration, saying the government does not have to make the payments while litigation over the subsidies unfolds.

Chhabria, appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama, wrote that although the case appears to be a close call “it appears initially that the Trump administration has the stronger legal argument.”

The Trump administration this month terminated the payments to the insurers, which help cover medical expenses for low-income Americans, as part of several moves to dismantle Obama’s signature healthcare law formally known as the Affordable Care Act.

Chhabria also said the kind of emergency order requested by the states was not necessary.

“The truth is that most state regulators have devised responses that give millions of lower-income people better health coverage options than they would otherwise have had,” Chhabria said.

“This is true in almost all the states joining this lawsuit,” the judge added.

Representatives for California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is leading the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — Reuters