Former CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt accused President Donald Trump of "purposely" raising health insurance premiums for Americans after the Trump administration failed to meet a deadline to approve Oklahoma's waiver aimed at reducing residents' health insurance premiums.
Oklahoma withdrew its section 1332 waiver Sept. 29 after learning HHS would not issue approval for the waiver by a Sept. 25 deadline. Oklahoma health officials proposed the state's waiver would have reduced health insurance premiums by 30 percent and aided more than 130,000 individuals.
In a Sept. 29 tweet reacting to HHS missing the deadline, Mr. Slavitt wrote, "I ran this government agency [CMS] under President [Barack] Obama. Make no mistake. Trump is purposely raising people's premiums."
Oklahoma Commissioner of Health Terry Cline, PhD, revealed in a Sept. 29 letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, the waiver required approval by Sept. 25. Dr. Cline wrote this deadline was set following "months of development, negotiation and near-daily communication over the past six weeks," between state and federal officials, including an approval package agreed upon Sept. 22.
However, Oklahoma officials said the approval was not granted "with no reason for the delay or timeframe for approval."
For more information about Oklahoma's decision to withdraw its section 1332 waiver, click here.
Editor's note: This article was updated Oct. 3 at 1:49 p.m.