The Trump administration is planning to slash spending on encouraging people to sign up for Obamacare, senior administration health officials said Thursday.
According to the HHS officials, Trump’s Health and Human Services Department will cut spending on promotion of the Affordable Care Act to US$10 million for this sign-up seasons, down from US$100 million last year. The changes haven’t yet been made public.
The administration will also reduce payments to groups that help people choose among their health insurance options under the law. Last year, those insurance “navigators” got US$62.5 million. Spending on the navigators will be cut by 39 percent this enrollment period, according to the officials.
With the move, President Donald Trump’s administration is following through on his threats to let Obamacare’s markets struggle and potentially collapse. Earlier this year, Republicans failed to repeal much of the law and replace it with their own, more limited program.
Trump’s team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees many of the federal government’s Obamacare efforts, would be reevaluating much of what the agency was doing surrounding outreach, Times has reported.Health insurance sign-ups under the law are scheduled to start on Nov. 1.