Trump threatens to slash insurance subsidies again

United States President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated his threat to cut insurance subsidies that help low-income people afford health care and make lawmakers pony up for their coverage.

President Trump took to Twitter and said, "If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn't it hurt the insurance companies & why should Congress not be paying what public pays?"

After the Republican-controlled Senate failed to pass a bill that would have repealed parts of ObamaCare, the US President argued that the health care system should be allowed to "implode" and expressed his willingness to end monthly cost-sharing reduction payments.

"If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!," Trump tweeted on Saturday.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway announced that president Trump would decide this week whether to cut the payments or not.

"He's going to make that decision this week, and that's a decision that only he can make," Conway said on "Fox News Sunday."

Trump believes that if he can slope up the pressure on lawmakers, he could finally get a yes vote.

Withholding the monthly subsidy payments for low-income Americans would weaken the insurance market and accelerate ObamaCare's collapse, experts said.