Trump blames Dems for ObamaCare premium increases

President Trump on Tuesday blamed Democrats for any premium spikes for ObamaCare plans, even as key senators announced a bipartisan deal aimed at saving the insurance markets from actions taken by the administration.

“Any increase in ObamaCare premiums is the fault of the Democrats for giving us a ‘product’ that never had a chance of working,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Any increase in ObamaCare premiums is the fault of the Democrats for giving us a “product” that never had a chance of working.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2017

{mosads}

The Trump administration last week decided to cut off key payments to insurers, known as cost-sharing reductions. The payments help insurers provide low-income people with lower co-pays and deductibles.

Insurers across the country were already raising rates because of uncertainty surrounding the health-care law, and cutting off the insurer payments was estimated to contribute to the hike.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in August that about 1 million additional people would be uninsured in 2018 and insurance companies would raise premium prices by about 20 percent for ObamaCare plans if the payments were cut off.

For example, Pennsylvania announced insurance premiums for plans sold on the state’s ObamaCare exchange will increase by an average of 30.6 percent for 2018, primarily because of Trump’s decision to stop paying the subsidies.

Trump’s tweet came hours after Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced that he and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking Democrat, reached a tentative bipartisan deal that would extend the payments for two years and give states more flexibility to change ObamaCare rules.

The negotiations had been aimed at stabilizing insurance markets. An internal GOP memo obtained by The Hill on Tuesday noted there would be “chaos” in the markets without the subsidies.