Attorney General Jennifer Davenport co-led a letter demanding that the Trump administration reverse a plan that state officials say would raise health insurance costs.
The Trump administration is seeking to cancel a proposed payment rule for health insurance coverage available under the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace exchanges, according to the Attorney General’s office. They say the move could move out-of-pocket expenses per family to $31,200 for “bare-bones catastrophic plans.”
“The proposed rule creates a health care regime that is unaffordable for most everyday New Jerseyans, creates a byzantine process for enrolling in health insurance, and imposes costly burdens on the states to comply with new requirements,” Davenport said. “In addition, it is audacious, and a waste of government resources, to include in this payment proposal provisions from last year that were successfully stayed by a court and which New Jersey and other states are continuing to challenge.”
They say the move would force up to two million people off their health insurance. The Trump administration said the rule would help enrollment in a certain type of catastrophic plan.
“Instead of lowering health insurance costs and widening access to high-quality health care, the Trump Administration’s big idea is to expand access to skimpy plans that cost more—shockingly more—and give you less for your money,” Gov. Mikie Sherrill said. “This comes on top of President Trump’s already disastrous choice to refuse to extend ACA tax credits, which caused nearly 500,000 New Jerseyans to see their premiums triple this year, and his changes to Medicaid, which kicked off 300,000 New Jerseyans.”
Davenport co-led the letter with the attorneys general of California and Massachusetts. Sixteen other states joined the letter.
