Reuters by Nate Raymond 6/24/2019
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether insurers can seek $12 billion from the federal government under a program set up by the Obamacare law aimed at encouraging them to offer medical coverage to previously uninsured Americans.
The justices will hear an appeal by a group of insurers of a lower court’s ruling that Congress had suspended the government’s obligation to make such payments. The insurers have said that ruling, if allowed to stand, would let the government pull a “bait-and-switch†and withhold money the companies were promised.
Moda Inc unit Moda Health Plan Inc and other insurers that sued to try to compel the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make the payments have said the government was supposed to help them recover from early losses they suffered after the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act under Democratic former President Barack Obama.
The law, dubbed Obamacare, has enabled millions of Americans who previously had not medical coverage to obtain insurance.
Other insurers involved in the case include Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Maine Community Health Options and Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-obamacare/supreme-court-to-hear-insurers-bid-for-12-billion-in-obamacare-money-idUSKCN1TP1Q7
