WASHINGTON - A hardball tactic to force congressional Democrats to negotiate on President Donald Trump's health care priorities might end up backfiring.

The White House has suggested it might eliminate billions of dollars in disputed "Obamacare" subsidies. But a study from a nonpartisan group suggests that stopping the Affordable Care Act payments at issue may actually cost the federal government billions more than it saves.

The Kaiser Family Foundation finds that taxpayers would pay 23 percent more than the potential savings from eliminating the health law's "cost-sharing" subsidies. The subsidies help low-income people with insurance deductibles and copayments.

It adds up to an estimated $2.3 billion more in 2018, an additional $31 billion over 10 years.

How's that possible? Insurers could jack up premiums, which are subsidized separately.