Trump urges Democrats to make a deal with him over Obamacare subsidies
President Trump said Friday that the Obamacare subsidies that he has decided to cut off were a "payoff" to insurance companies to help their stocks go up
"That money is a subsidy for insurance companies," Mr. Trump said outside the White House in brief remarks to reporters before leaving for the Secret Service training facility. "That money was a payoff to the insurance companies."
Mr. Trump said if Democrats were smart, they would come to the White House and negotiate something with him. He said it would be "nice" if Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California came over the White House to make a deal.
The president said that the subsidies, known as cost-sharing reducation (CSR) payments, were going to insurance companies to prop them up and to lift up their stock prices.
"That's not what I'm about," he said.
In the morning, Mr. Trump said that Democrats should call him after his decision to stop Obamacare subsidies to insurance companies because he said the health care law is "imploding." These payments are made to health insurers to help low-income people enrolled under the health care law with out-of-pocket expenses.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected in August that cutting off the payments would result in premiums going up 20 percent next year and the federal deficit growing by $194 billion over a decade.