CBO to release analysis of ending key ObamaCare insurer payments

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will release an analysis next week detailing the effects of ending key ObamaCare insurer payments. 

The CBO announced Friday the score would be released next week. 

President Trump has threatened to cancel the payments, known as cost-sharing reductions, which reimburse insurers for giving discounted deductibles and copays to low-income people. 

The administration has made the payments on a month-to-month basis but insurers have pleaded for long-term certainty. 

{mosads}The reimbursements total $7 billion for fiscal 2017, and regardless of whether the administration pays them, insurers would still be on the hook to offer these discounts to enrollees — they just wouldn’t be reimbursed for doing so.

Uncertainty over the future of the payments has contributed to insurers exiting the healthcare exchanges and proposed premium increases for 2018. More insurers might leave or increase premiums if the payments aren’t continued. 

The Senate Health Committee will hold bipartisan hearings in September on ways to stabilize and strengthen the individual market. 

The goal is to craft a bipartisan, short-term proposal by mid-September, which could include funding the payments.