Why Congress and the Trump Administration Should Appropriate Funding for Cost-Sharing Subsidies

Last week, the House of Representatives and the Trump administration asked the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to delay the lawsuit brought by the House against the Obama administration for another 90 days. House v. Price claims that the government’s reimbursement payments to health insurers for providing cost-sharing reductions are illegal, because their funding was never appropriated. Timothy Jost, emeritus professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, considers the implications of the delay and a possible end to the payments.