Trump says he ended insurers' 'gravy train' by cutting subsidy payments - NEWS TODAY
Channel: NEWS TODAY
Date: 16/10/2017

Trump says he ended insurers' 'gravy train' by cutting subsidy payments - NEWS TODAY
President Donald Trump said Monday that his move to end government subsidies to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act ended the "gravy train" to those companies and predicted the action will ultimately help reform the law.

Under the act, the government made cost-sharing reduction payments (CSRs) to insurers to assist in reducing premiums for low-income Americans who utilized health care exchanges. Trump halted the payments -- estimated to be $7 billion this year -- last week, claiming that the money primarily benefited insurance companies, a line he repeated Monday.

"The gravy train ended the day I knocked out the insurance companies’ money, which was last week," Trump said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars a month handed to the insurance companies for very little reason. Believe me. I want the money to go with the people, I want the money to go to poor people that need it. I want the money to go to people that need proper health care that need proper health care. Not to insurance companies which is where it's going as of last week. I ended that."

Trump predicted that the move would force Democrats to work with Republicans on their goal of health care reform. During his comments, the president also criticized the lack of progress that the party's senators made on the agenda items they promoted during last year's election and said he understood the sentiment behind remarks made by his former chief strategist Steve Bannon this weekend.

Bannon, who served the administration until August as White House chief strategist, said Saturday that he wanted to go to "war" with Republican senators who were slow to come to the president's defense during a recent feud with Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. Bannon previously clashed with the party's Senate leadership by endorsing Alabama's Roy Moore in his successful primary challenge of Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala.

Asked Monday by ABC News' Jonathan Karl for his opinion on Bannon's "war" with the establishment and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Trump described his understanding of the position.

"I have great relationships with -- actually -- many senators, but, in particular, with most Republican senators, but we're not getting the job done," said Trump. "And I'm not going to blame myself, to be honest. They are not getting the job done."

When Karl asked later whether the president thought Bannon could continue to campaign against incumbent Republicans seeking re-election, Trump only commented on his former chief strategist's perceived frustration.

"I know how he feels," Trump said.

The president noted growing frustration over failing to follow through on the party's 2016 election platform, including the thus-far stymied effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

"I can understand where Steve Bannon is coming from," he said, adding, "I can understand where a lot of people are coming from, because I'm not happy about it.

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