In a ruling this week, a federal judge in California denied a request from 19 state attorney generals to force the Trump administration to restore cost-sharing reductions (CSR)’s to health insurers. The President had stopped payment earlier in October. Judge Vince Chhabria wrote that most state insurance regulators had already prepared for the funds cut-off by permitting insurers to raise premiums for 2018, therefore, resuming the payments would be “counterproductive.” However, the Judge did not rule on the case’s central question, which is whether the federal government must continue the CSR’s without a specific appropriation from Congress. A lower court has also ruled against the legality of insurer payments, but stayed court proceedings pending further challenges.

On Oct. 25, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimate on the impact of the Alexander-Murray health bill on insurance coverage, costs and the federal deficit. The CBO found that the Alexander-Murray bill, titled the Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act, would not significantly change the number of people with health insurance coverage and would not cause increases in health insurance premiums. The estimate also found that the Alexander-Murray bill would reduce the deficit by $3.8 billion between 2018 and 2027.

The Alexander-Murray bill has the explicit support of 12 Senate Republicans, meaning that with the support of Senate Democrats, the bill could pass the Senate. However, the President has expressed differing views on the bill and House Republicans, including Speaker of the House Ryan, have expressed opposition to it.  In recent days, the President has spoken more favorably about the Alexander-Murray bill but has strongly indicated that he wants Congress to enact tax reform before attempting to pass health legislation. Experts predict that a measure to restore the ACA CSR’s will be included in end-of-year legislation to fund the government for 2018.