Josh Shapiro Joins Other Attorneys General In Lawsuit Against ACA Executive Order
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HARRISBURG (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA/AP) - Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro says he's joining his counterparts in at least a dozen states to sue the Trump administration over its decision to stop paying cost-sharing subsidies to insurers.
Shapiro on Friday said premiums for the more than 400,000 Pennsylvanians who buy individual insurance plans will skyrocket without the cost-sharing subsidies.
He says Trump is in clear violation of his legal responsibilities under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Shapiro tells the "KDKA Morning News" he will let Congress decide whether the ACA should change or be eliminated, "but it is my job to protect the residents of Pennsylvania."
"More than 426,000 Pennsylvanians get their individual health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act...of that number, about 233,000 Pennsylvanians get a direct benefit from these so called cost sharing subsidies," said Shapiro.
Shapiro says the people affected are those making $30,000 or less a year or a family earning $50,400 or less a year. He adds the subsidies help control healthcare costs from skyrocketing.
"[President Trump] has failed in his constitutional obligation to take care that the laws be faithful executed. We think the president acted arbitrarily and capriciously and he violated the Administrative Procedures Act," said Shapiro.
The Administrative Procedures Act is to ensure that a president takes certain steps when signing an executive order.
Attorneys general in states such as California, Connecticut, Kentucky and New York are among those announcing they will file a federal lawsuit against the move.
But Trump has defended the decision, saying that the subsidies are "almost a payoff" to insurance companies to lift their stock prices instead of helping low-income people afford their premiums.
Listen to the "KDKA Morning News" with Larry Richert and John Shumway weekdays from 5 to 9 a.m. on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA.
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