WASHINGTON, D. C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine has joined a group of 16 state attorneys general in taking legal action to protect health care access for millions of Americans. Attorney General Racine moved to intervene in a lawsuit filed by House Republicans that would undercut the affordability of health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The motion was led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and joined by attorneys general from the District, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington state.
In the suit, House v. Price, House Republicans sued the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), challenging the legality of the ACA’s cost-sharing subsidies, which help working families gain access to more affordable healthcare coverage. Ifs House Republicans succeed, the result would be an end to stable funding created to protect millions of working families from high healthcare costs. Experts predict that simply the threat to end this funding could destabilize the healthcare market and increase premiums by as much as 21 percent.
“Preserving affordable healthcare for millions of Americans -- care made possible by the ACA -- is important not only to District residents and the District’s budget, but the entire nation,” Attorney General Racine said. “Because we do not believe the Trump Administration will vigorously defend this or other aspects of the ACA, we have joined our colleagues in seeking to intervene on the law’s behalf.”
In President Trump’s own words, the House v. Price lawsuit could “explode” the ACA and leave millions of Americans without affordable healthcare coverage, leaving states to pick up the pieces. The intervention motion by the aforementioned states seeks to protect health care coverage secured for Americans under the ACA.
The Motion to Intervene is available here.
Background on House v. Price
The cost-sharing subsidies help working families access more affordable healthcare coverage by helping individuals with incomes between $11,880 and $29,700. The Kaiser Family Foundation projects premiums will increase by 19 percent on average across the country to compensate if there is a loss of the subsidy payments, finding that the premium increases would be higher in states that have not expanded Medicaid (premium increases of 21 percent).
House Republicans sued the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during the Obama Administration, challenging the legality of the cost-sharing subsidies. A district court judge ruled in favor of the House, but the ruling was appealed in order to protect access to healthcare, and the subsidies were permitted to continue pending appeal. After last November’s election, the House requested that the case be held in suspension while the newly elected President Trump had time to make decisions regarding the case. During this time, the president has continually played politics with people’s access to affordable healthcare, including threatening to shut down the federal government by taking health care subsidies away from Americans who need healthcare.