Press Releases
10/12/2017
Conn. Joins Multistate Lawsuit Defending Affordable Care Act
Connecticut today joined with 17 other states and the District of Columbia in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration's decision to abruptly stop making healthcare cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidy payments required by the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) – a move that will put health coverage for more than six million Americans at risk while increasing costs, Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Attorney General George Jepsen said today.
"Trumpcare is an unmitigated disaster for quality, affordable healthcare," said Governor Malloy. "President Trump continues to take deliberate steps to sabotage healthcare insurance markets throughout the nation. That's why Connecticut is joining other states to take legal action and hopefully put an end to this administration’s assault on access to affordable healthcare. I thank Attorney General Jepsen for his continued partnership and for lending both his expertise and the talents of his office to this very important fight."
"President Trump cannot actually reform or improve our healthcare system, so instead he is seeking to sabotage the Affordable Care Act and healthcare in this country piece by piece, this time by ending the CSR payments," Attorney General Jepsen said. "Withholding these subsidies is a direct hit to many families who will see their healthcare costs rise – and, make no mistake, his action will significantly increase costs for many Connecticut consumers. I intend to aggressively fight this action on behalf of the Connecticut families that rely on these subsidies."
The ACA's mandatory cost-sharing reduction payments help working families access more affordable healthcare coverage by assisting individuals with annual incomes between $11,880 and $29,700 enroll in health plans with lower deductibles, copayments or coinsurance, reducing their out-of-pocket costs.
While the Connecticut Insurance Department recently approved rates for 2018 that assumed no CSR payments would be made, and designed the rates in a way that will make some Connecticut families eligible for tax credits that will offset the higher premiums, many other Connecticut residents will not be eligible for those tax credits.
Moreover, the failure to make the CSR payments for the remainder of this calendar year will harm Connecticut insurers who relied on those payments when offering lower premiums for 2017 and will disrupt the upcoming open enrollment period by sowing unnecessary confusion in the individual consumer market.
This is the second time that Attorney General Jepsen and state attorneys general have sought to defend the subsidies and protect affordable health care coverage for millions of Americans. In May of this year, Attorney General Jepsen and 15 of his colleagues intervened in House v. Price, the appeal now pending in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to defend the subsidies against a lawsuit brought by Congressional Republicans.
In addition to Connecticut, and led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, other states joining today's lawsuit are Delaware, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.
Please click here to view this complaint.
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