Recipients of Obamacare subsidies are seeking to intervene in a lawsuit that was originally brought against the Obama administration by the Republican-led House of Representatives.
The recipients, La Trina Patton and Gustavo Parker, fear that now that Donald Trump is poised to become President, he might settle the case with the House and leave standing a lower court opinion that went against the law.
The House of Representatives sued the Obama administration in 2014 over the executive branch’s authority to reimburse insurers for the cost-sharing reduction authorized by Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act.
Last May, a federal judge ruled that reimbursements for the “cost sharing” provision in Obamacare were not properly approved of by Congress. The provision requires insurance companies offering health plans through the law to reduce out-of-pocket costs for policy holders who qualify, and the government offsets the added costs to insurance companies by reimbursing them.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ordered that the lawsuit filed against Obamacare by lawyers for the House be put on temporary hold until after Trump’s inauguration.
Lawyers for the House noted in legal briefs that a temporary stay would provide the Trump administration time to consider whether to continue prosecuting or maybe reach a settlement, to which the court agreed.
But Trump’s election prompted Patton and Parker, who receive subsidies from the law, to file an emergency motion with a federal appeals court on Tuesday in the hopes the court can rule on the motion to intervene before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
If the court grants the motion, it will be lifting its temporary hold in the case long enough for the parties to brief on the motion to intervene.
The order issued by the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reflects the change of administration and it delays the briefing schedule in the case until Trump is in office.
