Federal Judge Blocks Trump From Gutting Obamacare
Trump's HHS under RFK Jr. was about to impose new rules on Obamacare that would have kicked 2.2 million people off their insurance, but a federal judge has issued a ruling blocking the injunction.
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Did you know that the Trump administration was set to put new rules in place governing the implementation of the ACA on August 25, which would have resulted in millions of people losing their coverage?
Those rules will not be going into place thanks to a federal judge in Maryland who ruled in favor of a coalition of doctors and small businesses to block the Trump administration from new rules that would have made it more difficult to get ACA coverage and removed protections from the coverage.
A federal judge in Maryland ruled:
There is a strong public interest in Americans maintaining affordable healthcare coverage. Indeed, that was the primary purpose of enacting the ACA. See NFIB, 567 U.S. at 538 (explaining that the purpose of the ACA is "to increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance and decrease the cost of health care").
Moreover, eliminating coverage for an estimated 1.8 million people will drive up costs for the insured and lead to a significant decrease in the quality of care for the newly uninsured, which is unquestionably not in the public interest. Defendants concede as much in admitting that the Rule will likely lead to decreased coverage and increased costs, 90 Fed._ Reg. at 27,074, 27,213, but nonetheless maintain_ that intervention is warranted based on program integrity concerns, see, e.g., 90 Fed. Reg. at 27,116.
It is of course the case that reducing fraud by both brokers and Exchange applicants, thereby reducing the burden of subsidy expenditures on taxpayers, is also in the public interest. But the Court is not convinced that this concern outweighs the. damage that will flow from enactment of the Rule.
The rule was intended to kick people off their insurance under the pretense of cracking down on fraud.
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