John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care, responded to President Trump's October 12th executive order that cut cost-sharing subsidy payments to insurers. The payments are used by health plans to reduce out-of-pocket costs and co-pays for consumers in the Affordable Care Act Exchanges. His quote was featured in an article at POLITICO.
“What it adds up to me is a gross dereliction of duty,” John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan said of the decision. “The Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land and the cost-reduction subsidies are part of that … Even if there’s a lawsuit about it, it should still be honored until the last appeal is exhausted. I thought they took oaths to uphold the law of the land. They’re just flaunting it now.”
While L.A. Care and Covered California already have taken the steps to protect consumers from feeling the brunt of the President's actions, the executive order is expected to severely impact millions of Americans.
Read the full article, “Trump Will Scrap Critical Obamacare Subsidy,” by John Dawsey and Paul Demko at POLITICO.
Read Covered California's press release about its efforts to limit consumer impact in 2018.