ByHoward Gleckman,
Senior Contributor.
After a government shutdown and months of drama, it appears that President Trump may be about to drop his aggressive opposition to extending soon-to-expire enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.
And by doing so, he may have made it much more likely that 22 million people currently receiving premium tax credits will continue to receive their full subsidies. Preserving the subsidies, and the ACA marketplace itself, would be especially important to people ages 55-65 and those with pre-existing medical conditions.
According to published reports, Trump may soon abandon his half-formed idea of replacing ACA subsidies with cash payments to US households. Just by floating this scheme, he stalled congressional efforts to reach a compromise on the subsidy issue and added to Americans’ already-growing uncertainty over health care costs.
