WASHINGTON _ A federal court Monday granted the Trump administration more time to decide how to handle a lawsuit challenging federal healthcare aid for low-income Americans who rely on Obamacare health plans.
The move may put off a showdown over the assistance, which health insurers and many experts believe is crucial to sustaining insurance markets created by the Affordable Care Act.
But it will likely to do little to stabilize jittery insurance markets or reassure insurers who have been warning of rising premiums to account for uncertainty over the payments.
The aid, which reimburses insurers for lowering out-of-pocket costs for millions of low-income consumers who have health plans on the Obamacare markets, was paid for years by the Obama administration.
But it is now the subject of a lawsuit by congressional Republicans, who argue Congress must approve the payments, known as cost sharing reductions, or CSRs.
President Donald Trump and his deputies have repeatedly threatened to stop making the payments or stop contesting the lawsuit, which would effectively do the same thing.
Insurers, state regulators and multiple healthcare groups representing doctors, physicians and others have pleaded with the administration and with congressional Republicans not to do that, warning it would sabotage markets and jeopardize coverage for millions of people.
The delay means that the issue will not be settled by the court for at least several more months. However, Trump could still decide unilaterally at any time to cut off the aid.
The action by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia _ which is considering the case, known as House vs. Price _ came after both the Trump administration and House Republicans sought a delay.
