NCL: Trump Administration sabotage of Affordable Care Act is inexcusable – National Consumers League

September 6, 2017

Contact: Cindy Hoang, National Consumers League, (202) 207-2832, cindyh@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—Today the National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, is expressing extreme disappointment that the Trump Administration is yet again undermining the Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite Obamacare’s popularity nationwide across all income and geographic lines.  

The Administration has:

  1. Cut the 2018 Open Enrollment Period for the Health Insurance Marketplace in half. It now runs only from November 1, 2017 to December 15, 2017, instead of remaining open until January 31, 2018.
  2. Cut the ACA’s advertising budget to promote the Open Enrollment Period from $100 million to $10 million. Adding insult to injury, the Affordable Care Act Navigator program will be cut by nearly $30 million — from $62.5 million to $36 million. Navigators are critical to helping consumers to choose and enroll in Marketplace coverage.  

The following statement may be attributed to Sally Greenberg, NCL executive director:

“NCL is extremely disappointed in the Trump Administration’s undermining of the ACA Marketplace. Millions of Americans need and depend on access to health care to keep themselves and their families healthy. Millions more are eligible to sign up for ACA coverage. Rather than acting to stabilize the health care marketplace and help people get the care they need, the Trump Administration’s actions guarantee reduced enrollment. This goes directly against the wishes of the vast majority of the American people. Seven in 10 Americans would rather see Congress make improvements to the ACAnot try to destroy it. Congress has tried numerous times to repeal and replace the law, but it keeps failing because Americans don’t want it repealed. Despite what President Trump might say, any failure of the ACA Marketplace will fall squarely upon his shoulders.

To address this large gap in advertising funding, the National Consumers League is joining with our colleagues in the health advocacy community to urge consumers to enroll in health coverage by the December 15, 2017 deadline. NCL will also work with our allies to encourage Congress to act to shore up the marketplace.” 

###

About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.