The U.S. Department of Justice has filed motions to dismiss twolawsuits by health care insurers who claim that they are owedmillions under the Affordable Care Act.

The Hill reported that the insurers, Moda Healthcare and BlueCross Blue Shield of North Carolina, have sued the federalgovernment over a combined $338 million in health care paymentsthey claim are overdue. But the Justice Department is arguing thatthe federal government isn’t responsible for those payments — andif it wins its argument, the decision could reverberate through themarketplace.

The lawsuits are both focused on a provision in the ACA known as the “risk corridors” program,which is aimed at cutting risks in the new marketplace. Whilepassage of the ACA in 2010 brought the funding program into law,Republicans have since passed budget rules that restrict thosepayments, and the program has come up short — substantially so.

During 2014, the first year of the risk corridors program, $363million was paid into it. However, insurers sought a whopping $2.87 billion tomake up for losses during that year — far more than the program iscapable of paying out, thanks to the budget restrictions.

While Moda says the program owes it $191 million from 2014 andBlue Cross Blue Shield is claiming $147 million, the JusticeDepartment is arguing that the Department of Health and HumanServices (HHS) does not owe that money to insurance companies,partially because Congress has “directly spoken” about its intentto limit the use of federal dollars into the program.

“Under Moda’s interpretation, HHS would be the uncapped insurerof the insurance industry itself,” the Justice Department said inits filing. “Congress did not intend that result.” In its twomotions, the Justice Department said that Congress never gaveitself authority to pay for the risk corridors program, and thatthe insurers may never need to be paid.

It also argued that insurers aren’t currently owed any moneybecause the federal government didn’t set a deadline. “Under thisframework, HHS does not owe Moda, or any other issuer, finalpayment before the end of the program,” the Justice Departmentwrote.

While it had made the same argument in an earlier case withHealth Republic back in June, experts are saying that the currentargument is presented more strongly — that while the 2010 law wouldhave provided the government the authority to make the payments,Congress’s subsequent intervention limited that authority.

While payment data have not yet been released for 2015, thefiling said that the Obama administration intends to do so inDecember of this year.