A U.S. District Court in Maryland struck down key parts of the Trump administration’s 2025 Obamacare program integrity rule, including a $5 monthly fee for automatically reenrolled subsidized marketplace customers.
The judge said CMS lacked authority to alter the subsidy formula set by Congress and found the administration had not backed its claim that tougher income checks would curb fraudulent enrollments.
Baltimore, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, joined by Doctors for America and the Main Street Alliance, brought the challenge; HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
One provision survived: the court refused to block a revised premium adjustment methodology that uses Obamacare plan pricing data to help set cost-sharing limits and subsidy amounts.
A separate order will determine how the ruling is implemented, dealing a setback to Trump’s push to tighten marketplace enrollment rules in the name of reducing fraud, waste and abuse.