By: TAHP | Friday, October 13, 2017

TX Health Plans Respond to White House Ending Funding for Health Benefits Helping Low-Income Texans Afford Care

“Costs will inevitably rise while choices dwindle”

AUSTIN—The Texas Association of Health Plans (TAHP), the statewide trade association representing commercial and public health plans operating in Texas, today issued the following statement in response to the Trump Administration’s decision, announced late last night, to end funding for Cost-Sharing Reduction (CSR) benefits for millions of Americans:

“Last night the Administration eliminated funding for critical benefits that enable roughly 550,000 low-income Texans to access lifesaving health care. To be clear, the Administration’s move turns these benefits—which have already been promised for the more than half a million Texans who depend on them—into an unfunded government mandate that could mean a $50 million loss for Texas for every month it is not paid.

“Unfortunately, the federal government has not provided a recourse for health plans to cover the cost of this unfunded mandate. 

“By ending funding for these benefits—which are passed from the federal government through health plans to physicians and providers who care for low-income individuals—the Administration is jeopardizing health care for hundreds of thousands of Texans and access to critical care such as cancer treatments or medications for other chronic or terminal illnesses.

“We need constructive solutions that provide greater choices, affordability, and accessibility to quality health care for all Americans. Terminating these benefits for millions of Americans earning less than $30,000 achieves the opposite. Costs will inevitably rise while choices dwindle – not just for those who have received subsidies in the past, but for all Texans in the individual market. 

“Texas health plans are committed to increasing affordability, choice, competition, and access to coverage for all Texans, and we will do everything in our power to see that Texans who depend on these benefits will continue receiving the essential care they need.”