{"id":12437,"date":"2017-08-01T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T09:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/08\/01\/trumps-tweets-threaten-to-destabilize-insurance-markets\/"},"modified":"2017-08-01T09:00:28","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T09:00:28","slug":"trumps-tweets-threaten-to-destabilize-insurance-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/trumps-tweets-threaten-to-destabilize-insurance-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump's Tweets Threaten To Destabilize Insurance Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Kodjak<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n President Donald Trump still hopes to force legislators back to the table to find a way to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, by any means possible.<\/p>\n

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Tasos Katopodis \/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Tasos Katopodis \/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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President Trump took to Twitter this week to threaten insurance companies that he may withhold crucial government payments in an effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

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If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn’t it hurt the insurance companies & why should Congress not be paying what public pays?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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It’s not the first time the president has threatened to cut off these payments to insurers, which he refers to as “BAILOUTS.”<\/p>\n

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If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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But these payments aren’t designed to compensate insurers for business failures. Rather they reimburse insurance companies<\/a> for discounts the law requires them to give to low-income people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The federal money that goes to insurers in these payments, known as cost-sharing reductions,<\/a> or CSRs, offsets the money insurers lose by lowering the deductibles and co-payments they require of these policyholders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump, who is angry that the Congress failed to pass a law to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is wielding his threat to withhold these CSRs \u2014 which could cause chaos in the insurance markets \u2013 in hopes of forcing lawmakers back to the table to try again to get rid of the health care law.<\/p>\n