Trump says he 'may' stop subsidy payments to insurers, throwing the Obamacare insurance markets into chaos and inflicting impossible rate increases on the lowest-income enrollees.
He says he doesn't want to hurt anyone. But if the Democrats don't play ball, any harm will be their fault, according to him.
Trump used an interview with the WSJ to muse about his options to end the Obamacare stalemate. He feels under pressure, he related, since the more time passes, the more he 'owns' Obamacare. See
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare...ayments-report
Trump has the power to stop the payments because their constitutionality is at issue in federal court. All he has to do is abandon the existing appeal of a court decision against the payments, and the decision would take effect, forcing them to stop.
Trump sees this ability to end insurance for millions as a way to force Democrats to go along with negotiating an end to it.
My analysis: this is Trump's way to 'save face' while opening negotiations with the Democrats. This way he isn't turning to them to fix his 'failure' on health care, he's ruthlessly 'bending the Democrats to his will.' If the Democrats make a show of being 'forced' to make a deal with Trump, they may be able to get a good bill to revise and repair Obamacare out of it, renamed Trumpcare of course.