CLEVELAND, Ohio - The decision late Thursday by President Donald Trump's administration to end cost-sharing subsidies for insurers is leaving area hospitals scrambling to determine what that means for patients locally.
The payments were established under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and reimburse insurers for covering out-of-pocket healthcare costs for lower-income Americans.
Area hospitals still are trying to assess how the move will affect local patients and their ability to access care.
"It is too early for us to know what the impact of the cut to the subsidies will be to our patients who receive their coverage through the health insurance marketplace," University Hospitals said in a statement Friday.
"We encourage the administration and Congress to ensure that individuals have affordable, comprehensive health care coverage options and to achieve this goal without destabilizing the insurance markets for patients."
The subsidies have been the target of Trump's criticism since he took office, which has left insurers scrambling to set rates and policies for 2018 without knowing if cost-sharing payments would continue.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates gross premiums for those on some marketplace plans would increase 20 percent in 2018 and 25 percent by 2020.
Representatives from the Cleveland Clinic said they need more time to provide a response to Trump's decision.
"Our leaders closest to this discussion are traveling overseas, making it complicated to reach them," a Clinic spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman from the MetroHealth System deferred comments to the Center for Health Affairs, an advocacy organization representing Northeast Ohio hospitals.
In April, a consortium of insurers and medical providers urged continued funding.
"Without these funds, consumers' access to care is jeopardized, their premiums will increase dramatically, and they will be left with even fewer coverage options," the groups said.
The subsidies are a type of federal payment called cost-sharing reductions, or CSRs. They amount to about $7 billion annually. Those funds are used to help lower-income people cover the costs of deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket expenses. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that they reduce annual costs for some customers by up to $3,400.
The Trump administration's decision to end the subsidies comes after the president issued an executive order Thursday allowing employers to purchase cheaper policies that offer fewer benefits than required by the ACA.
"These provisions could destabilize the individual and small group markets, leaving millions of Americans who need comprehensive coverage to manage chronic and other pre-existing conditions, as well as protection against unforeseen illness and injury, without affordable options," the American Hospital Association said in a statement.