Funds for ACA sign-ups slashed

WASHINGTON — Affirming its disdain for “Obamacare,” the Trump administration on Thursday announced sharp cuts in programs promoting health care enrollment under the Affordable Care Act for next year.

Advertising will be cut from $100 million spent on 2017 sign-ups to $10 million, said Health and Human Services officials.

Funding for consumer helpers called “navigators” will also be cut about 40 percent, from $62.5 million for 2017, to $36.8 million for next year. That change reflects a new performancebased ethic that penalizes navigator programs failing to meet their sign-up targets, administration officials said.

About 12.2 million people signed up for subsidized private health insurance under Barack Obama’s signature law this year, many in states that President Donald Trump carried in November. Current enrollment is estimated to be around 10 million, due to attrition also seen in prior years.

Democrats quickly cried foul. “Instead of helping, the Trump administration is pulling the rug out from under Americans at every opportunity,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said.

Trump and congressional Republicans have been unable to deliver on their vow to “repeal and replace” the 2010 health care law. The president has repeatedly pronounced the program on the verge of collapse, and has threatened via Twitter to cut off payments to insurers that help reduce consumers’ copays and deductibles. Adding to sign-up challenges, the ACA enrollment season will be considerably shorter for 2018, running Nov. 1-Dec. 15.