A pending appeals court ruling could force the Trump administration to pay billions of dollars to Obamacare insurers – even as President Donald Trump is threatening to let the Affordable Care Act "implode," Politico reported.
The decision involves two cases: one filed last November by Land of Lincoln Health, a now-defunct nonprofit startup in Illinois, which lost its case in the Court of Federal Claims seeking more than $70 million — and one filed in April, when Oregon-based Moda Health was awarded more than $200 million.
They'll be considered together by the same three-judge panel in Washington, with legal briefs expected to be finished in September, Politico reported.
According to Politico, health insurers have filed nearly two dozen lawsuits claiming the government owes them payments from a program meant to blunt their losses in the Obamacare marketplaces. Insurers are owed more than $8 billion in payments, and the tab is likely to grow, the outlet reported.
“[The Obama administration] repeatedly assured us it was there and it would be a clear obligation of the government," Tom Policelli, CEO of Minuteman Health, told Politico. "Even the federal government is subject to the rules."
The risk corridor program was one of three established by Obamacare to protect insurers entering the marketplaces under rules requiring them to accept patients regardless of medical condition. Insurers making more money than expected in the markets were required to pay into the program, while those with big losses would receive payments.
"The whole system was to attract insurers like my client, Land of Lincoln, to participate in the first place," lawyer Daniel Albers, who's representing the failed co-op told Politico. "The Republicans want to say it’s a bailout. It’s not a bailout."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.