Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Friday accused President Trump of seeking to dismantle the Affordable Care Act out of spite, calling him “the worst President in modern history.”
“Latest reason why President Trump is the worst President in modern history: Deliberately undermining people’s health care out of spite,” Schiff wrote on Twitter.
The White House announced Thursday that the president will end federal subsidies to insurance companies that help low-income people pay for some out-of-pocket costs.
{mosads}The Trump administration argued in announcing the decision that the subsidies, known as cost-sharing reduction payments, were unconstitutional because Congress had not appropriated money to make the payments.
The Trump administration had continued to make the payments throughout its first nine months, although the president has repeatedly threatened to end them. They are estimated to be worth about $7 billion this year.
The decision to end the cost-sharing reduction payments was Trump’s second hit to ObamaCare on Thursday. Earlier in the day, he signed an executive order expanding small businesses and other groups’ ability to band together to purchase health insurance through so-called association health plans.
Those plans are exempt from some of ObamaCare’s rules, like its essential benefits requirements, which could draw healthier people into the plans, leaving sicker people in the ObamaCare markets and potentially causing premiums to spike.
Trump’s twin health-care efforts came after multiple failed attempts by Congress to repeal large parts of former President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law.
In a Friday morning tweet, Trump vowed to overhaul the health-care system “piece by piece.”