Trump on tricky legal ground with health care threat

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s threat to stop billions of dollars in government payments to insurers and force the collapse of the Affordable Care Act could put the government in a tricky legal situation.

Legal experts say he’d be handing insurers a solid court case, while undermining his own leverage to compel Democrats to negotiate, especially if premiums jump by 20 percent as expected after such a move.

“Trump thinks he’s holding all the cards. But Democrats know what’s in his hand, and he’s got a pair of twos,” said University of Michigan law Professor Nicholas Bagley. Democrats “aren’t about to agree to dismantle the Affordable Care Act just because Trump makes a reckless bet.”

For months, the president has been threatening to stop payments that reimburse insurers for providing required financial assistance to lowincome consumers, reducing their co-pays and deductibles.

Administration officials say the decision could come any day.

The “cost-sharing” subsidies are under a legal cloud because of a dispute over whether the Obama health care law properly approved the payments. Other parts of the health care law, however, clearly direct the government to reimburse insurers.

Trump returned to the question last week after the GOP drive to repeal the health care law fell apart in the Senate, tweeting, “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies...will end very soon!”

The health law clearly requires insurers to help lowincome consumers with their co-pays and deductibles. Nearly 3 in 5 HealthCare.gov customers qualify for the assistance, which can reduce a deductible of $3,500 to several hundred dollars. The cost to the government is about $7 billion a year.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra says Trump’s tweets will bolster arguments from him and his counterparts in other states to intervene in the case.

“We need somebody who will stand up in court and defend the subsidies against the erratic nature of President Trump,” said Becerra.

Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said: “We need somebody who will stand up in court and defend the subsidies against the erratic nature of President Trump.”