CNN was forced to walk back a teaser for an important healthcare announcement after President Donald Trump unexpectedly postponed it.
Forty minutes into the afternoon edition of CNN News Central on Monday, anchor Boris Sanchez said the network had learned that Trump was planning to unveil a proposal to address mounting concerns that healthcare premiums will skyrocket if Affordable Care Act subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of the year.
“Sources tell us the plan could be announced as soon as today,” he said.
MS NOW was first to report that Trump was expected to make the announcement at the White House along with Mehmet Oz, chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Trump planned to temporarily extend the subsidies, impose new income limits, require all enrollees to pay a premium, and offer a Health Savings Account for lower-tier customers, according to CNN.
Half an hour later, however, host Jessica Dean had to pause an interview about the new healthcare plan to break the news.
“As I noted, we are very much still waiting for specifics here,” Dean said, before receiving breaking news in her earpiece.
“I have learned that the White House has postponed its expected unveiling of this new healthcare proposal. It was expected to be unveiled today,” she said. “We’ll learn more hopefully about that in the coming moments.”
An administration official told the Daily Beast that a healthcare announcement was never listed on Trump’s schedule for Monday.
The government went into the longest shutdown in U.S. history last month after Democrats and Republicans were unable to break their deadlock on the expiring Obamacare subsidies.
Liberal lawmakers initially stood firm on their demand to extend the credits to protect 22 million Americans from soaring insurance premiums. After 43 days, however, Democrats bent the knee and agreed to end the shutdown in exchange for a December vote on the expiring subsidies.
The White House proposal would call on Congress to allot funds for cost-sharing reductions to bring down out-of-pocket costs for customers, according to Politico. The plan would also limit the subsidies to individuals whose incomes are up to 700 percent of the federal poverty line.
The administration’s proposal also requires a minimum premium payment to eliminate “zero-premium” subsidies and “ghost beneficiaries,” MS NOW reported. Individuals who choose to downgrade their coverage would also receive the cost difference through a Health Savings Account.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, widely credited with crafting the Affordable Care Act as an adviser to the Obama administration, told CNN that the Trump administration’s proposal “does absolutely nothing for affordability.”
“Those proposals don’t do anything for affordability, and by driving out people who are relatively healthy, they’re actually going to raise premiums even more,” he said. “If you really want to get your arms around healthcare costs, you’re going to have to address hospital costs, pharmaceutical costs, administrative costs.”
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