President Donald Trump personally dictated an fiery rebuttalstatement toa recent story in TheNew York Times on the administration's position on the Affordable Care Act's cost-sharing payments, according to a report from Politico.The statement, which was delivered to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, was then attributed to an HHS spokesperson, the report said.The ACA's cost-sharing reduction (CSR) paymentshelp subsidize insurers who offer low out-of-pocket cost plans to poorer Americans.House Republicans sued the Obama administration in 2014, saying that thepayments were illegal since they were not approved by Congress. The court agreed, but allowed the payments to continue asthe Obama administration filed an appeal.Health policy analysts worried that the Trump administration would drop the appeal, ending the CSR payments and causing insurers to leave the market. This couldcause costs to rise and effectively allow Trump to helpObamacare's exchanges collapse.On Monday, TheNew York Times reported that the Trump administration would continue to paythe CSR payments to insurers while the lawsuit was pending, giving some clarityto the issue until the next court date in May.On Tuesday, HHS responded in a statement. It called the Times report incorrect, said Obamacare was failing, and attacked Democrats for not working with Trump and Republicans on healthcare. Here's the statement in full:"The administration is currently deciding its position on the matter. We have not been contacted by Democrats to save Obamacare, perhaps because they consider Obamacare to be a losing cause. Democrats need to help solve this failed Obamacare plan. The report was in reference to the current status of the lawsuit and is not an indication of what will happen in the future. No decision has been made about how the administration will proceed."The statement was attributed to HHS spokesperson Alleigh Marr.Trump was concerned that alleviating some of the concern from Democrats over the CSR payments would make them less likely to come to the table to negotiate on healthcare, the report said.While the White Housetypically sets the message, Politico said that is is "unusual" for a statement from an executive agency to be personally crafted directlybythe president.SEE ALSO:There are a few simple ways Trump could cause Obamacare to 'explode'Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Former State Department official: Evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia would create a 'constitutional crisis
Click here to read full news..
