States file emergency motion to force continuation of ObamaCare payments

Multiple states have filed an emergency motion to force the Trump administration to continue making ObamaCare subsidy payments to insurers.

Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., signed onto the motion for a temporary restraining order filed Tuesday in federal court in California, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D).

{mosads}President Trump last week announced he would not continue making the payments, which are required under the health-care law and help low-income people afford co-pays and deductibles.

The emergency motion would ensure the payments continue.

“These payments are vital to thousands of New Yorkers and millions of Americans who rely on them to afford their health care,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “We’re moving to block these dangerous cuts before they do any more harm.”

The payments were required under the Affordable Care Act, but Congress refused to appropriate the money for them. The Obama administration began paying anyway. The House sued the Obama administration, arguing the White House was illegally funding the subsidies.

The House won the lawsuit, the Obama administration appealed, and the payments continued on a monthly basis until last week.

“Donald Trump doesn’t get to pick and choose which laws to follow,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said in a statement. “For nearly a year, Trump has submitted those payments. So the question now has to be: is Donald Trump correct today or was he breaking the law?”

The same coalition of state attorneys general last week announced a lawsuit that would seek a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction requiring the cost-sharing reduction payments be made.