Funds for healthcare sign-ups slashed

Washington, Sept. 1: Affirming its disdain for Obamacare, the Trump administration on Thursday announced sharp cuts in programmes promoting healthcare 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 per cent from $62.5 million for 2017 to $36.8 million for next year. That change reflects a new performance-based ethic that penalises navigator programmes failing to meet their sign-up targets, administration officials said.

About 12.2 million people signed up for subsidised 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.

Top Democrats accused the administration of malice.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi of California accused the administration of a “cynical effort to lower enrollment” that would “create chaos” and increase premiums. Her S e n a t e counterpart,Chuck Schumer of New York, said the administration “is deliberately attempting to sabotage our health care system”.