The Trump administration and Republicans in the U.S. House asked Monday for a delay in litigation over certain Affordable Care Act subsidies that health insurers say are key to stabilizing markets under the federal health law.
The litigation focuses on "cost-sharing reductions," or CSR payments, that the government has been paying to private health insurers to lower deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for low-income people.
In Minnesota, the CSRs are expected to provide a few million dollars of support this year to individual insurance shoppers, but a much larger sum — in excess of $100 million per year — for the MinnesotaCare health insurance program.
Republicans in the House last year won a court ruling that would block continued funding of the subsidies. But the Obama administration appealed, and the matter has been delayed as Republicans attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
"The parties continue to discuss measures that would obviate the need for judicial determination of this appeal, including potential legislative action," according to the Republicans' filing Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
In March, the court approved an abeyance in the case and set Monday — and at 90-day intervals after that — as the deadline to file a status report. The Republicans' filing asked the court to continue the abeyance.
Earlier this month, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson joined with attorneys general in more than a dozen other states seeking to intervene in the case. Lawyers for the Trump administration and the House on Monday said they would respond separately to the states' request.
Cost-sharing reductions are provided only to those who buy through government-run exchanges like MNsure in Minnesota. In April, about 11,843 people with individual insurance policies in Minnesota were benefiting from CSRs, MNsure says.