A federal appeals court Tuesday allowed 16 state attorneys general to intervene in the appeal of a lawsuit over the ACA's cost-sharing subsidies, according The Washington Post.
The Republican-led House of Representatives brought the case in 2014 to eliminate subsidy payments to health insurers that cover a portion of out-of-pocket medical expenses for low-income Americans. House Republicans prevailed in court in 2016. The Obama administration filed an appeal in the case but the court did not rule on the issues before President Donald Trump took office.
The attorneys general filed a motion to intervene in the case in May.
In its three-page ruling granting the motion, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia wrote that states could be harmed if the subsidies were eliminated. The court also noted that HHS never argued in its intervention papers that it would continue to prosecute the appeal or protect the states' interests, according to The Washington Post.
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