Settlement reached in House challenge of ACA cost-sharing subsidies

House Republicans Friday reached an agreement with the current administration and certain states in their lawsuit challenging the Obama administration for reimbursing insurers for cost-sharing reductions provided through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Under the agreement, the parties would ask the district court to agree to vacate the portion of its final order that enjoined reimbursement of the CSRs pending an appropriation for the payments. If agreed, the parties would ask the appeals court to remand the case back to the district court to formally amend its prior order enjoining the payments. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed last October, the AHA, Federation of American Hospitals, The Catholic Health Association of the United States, and Association of American Medical Colleges said ending the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing subsidies would harm patients’ finances and health, trigger a “death spiral” in the health insurance exchanges, and force hospitals to shoulder an even greater financial burden, making it harder for them to serve their communities.