Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar credited President Donald Trump for stabilizing the Affordable Care Act exchanges and bringing down premiums.
In remarks at an event hosted by the Nashville Health Care Council, Azar credited President Trump with taking "decisive action to stabilize insurance markets and expand choices for American consumers" that led to a 2% reduction in benchmark plan premiums for 2019.
Trump has previously called the ACA a "disaster" and warned that it is "imploding."
But Azar said immediate actions by the administration, including approving state reinsurance programs, has helped drive down premiums.
"It turns out, when you have a president who’s willing to take decisive action, who understands business, who’s willing to work with the private sector, you can find a way to help American patients, even within a failed system like the ACA," he said.
Experts have previously said exchange premiums would be lower if not for actions by the Trump administration—including repealing the individual mandate, cutting off cost-sharing reductions, and reducing outreach efforts.
"The president who was supposedly trying to sabotage the Affordable Care Act has proven better at managing it than the president who wrote the law," Azar countered.
RELATED: GAO criticizes Trump administration's ACA outreach and enrollment efforts
"Premiums would be going down a lot if not for repeal of the individual mandate penalty and expansion of short-term plans," Levitt said.
Ironically, one of the most stabilizing actions the Trump administration has taken was cutting of cost-sharing subsidy payments to insurers. That led to an increase in ACA benchmark premiums this year, which in turn led to higher premium subsidies and more stable enrollment.
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) September 27, 2018
Charles Gaba, an ACA analyst who runs ACAsignups.net pointed out that Azar's figure only accounts for the 39 states on the federal exchange. He said overall rates are up 28%, most of which is attributed to a lack of cost-reduction payments.
Rates ⬆️ 28% this year with appx. 17 points of that being due SPECIFICALLY to Trump Administration policies--primarily cutting off CSR payments. For 2019, they WOULD be dropping by 8-9 points more if not for THIS year's #ACASabotage...mainly repeal of the individual mandate. https://t.co/ta83B1yCzr
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) September 27, 2018
ACA insurers have repeatedly cited the repeal of the individual mandate and the introduction of short-term health plans as reasons behind premium increases for 2019. Healthcare organizations, including AHIP, have said short-term plans will pull healthy individuals off the exchanges, increasing premiums for older enrollees.