What Trump's decision to end a federal healthcare subsidy means for Californians - latimes

In an aggressive move to dismantle Obamacare, President Trump announced Thursday that the government was ending payments to health insurers that help fund the law.

The approximately $7 billion a year in federal dollars have allowed companies to offer discounted plans to low-income Americans who buy coverage through the healthcare exchanges.

According to experts, withdrawal of the subsidies could lead insurers to drop out of the exchanges, healthcare marketplaces to collapse and premiums to increase. The biggest effect would be on the individual insurance market, through which about 3 million Californians buy a health plan.

Under the Affordable Care Act, there are two kinds of subsides intended to make insurance more affordable in the individual market.

One goes toward premiums and is given directly to consumers. The other reduces co-pays and deductibles, and is paid to the insurance companies so they can afford to lower the cost of their plans.

On California’s exchange, Covered California, 90% of the approximately 1.5 million enrollees receive the first kind of subsidy and 50% benefit from the second one, according to officials.

What Trump got rid of was the second subsidy, known as cost-sharing reductions. - Read More

What Trump's decision to end a federal healthcare subsidy means for Californians