>> you seem to be avoiding that fact that this PROVISION was SLIPPED into this 703 page bill by REPUBLICANS -- blame the right folks here.

Alternatively, risk corridor payments that Congress had refused, were being slipped past Congress that had to keep passing bills to stop it- and HHS simply continued finding other ways to slip the payments past Congress, to the point where a HHS Slush Fund Elimination Act was introduced. Yes, that's its exact name.

With this background, it's not reasonable to claim this clause was sneaked in by one side of the house. Both sides were well aware that Congress was repeatedly stepping in to stop payments it had never approved. Both sides were also well aware of the Obamacare promise that risk corridors would be cost neutral and would NOT involve taxpayer bailouts.

So if you want to blame Rubio for a clause saying the risk corridors had to be cost neutral- even though it appears he had nothing to do with the provision's drafting by Senate Budget Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee staffers- then you'll need to include the Obama administration that had promised this to the nation but then began playing a shell game to slip huge payments past Congress so the ACA could appear to succeed- for a little while.