Trump administration cuts grants that help consumers get ACA coverage

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Tuesday that it is ending most grants for grassroots organizations that assist Americans signing up for Affordable Care Act insurance.

Last summer, aid was reduced by 41 percent to $36.8 million, and this new reduction lowers the amount of money going to these groups, called navigators, to $10 million for the enrollment period starting in November. The Trump administration is now urging navigators to also steer people toward health plans that work around ACA's consumer protections. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called these non-ACA plans "junk" that let insurance companies "deny care on a whim and charge whatever they want," which is "nothing but a scam."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.