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As Insurance Companies Cite “Policies Advocated By The Trump Administration,” Virginians Face Republican-Inflicted Rate Hikes

On Friday, preliminary Virginia rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated a potential double-digit average premium increase due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda. What’s behind this spike? In the words of the insurance companies themselves, “policies advocated by the Trump Administration” are driving the increases. It’s the latest consequence of the GOP’s repeal-and-sabotage campaign. Here’s some early coverage:

Senators Mark Warner And Tim Kaine: “These Proposed Price Increases Are A Painful Consequence Of The Trump Administration’s Efforts To Sabotage The Health Insurance Market And Dismantle The Affordable Care Act.” “These proposed price increases are a painful consequence of the Trump Administration’s efforts to sabotage the health insurance market and dismantle the Affordable Care Act. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to repeal the ACA, President Trump and Republicans in Congress settled for taking actions that will increase premium costs for American families, something even Trump’s former HHS Secretary admitted this week. Now, their irresponsible games are hurting Virginians by making it harder for families to afford health care. We hope our colleagues will take this seriously and pass bipartisan legislation to stabilize the market and make sure Virginians have affordable options for health insurance in 2019.” [Senator Tim Kaine, 5/4]

Rep. Don Beyer: “This Is A Scandal And A Disgrace And Virginians Are Going To Be Hurt Very Badly.” “Awful healthcare news for Virginia. Last year we stopped Trump/GOP attempts to repeal the ACA and strip health insurance from 23 million people. They responded by sabotaging the healthcare system. We just learned that this is going to cause Virginians’ premiums to skyrocket. ‘Skyrocket’ = double-digit increases, up to 64%, depending on your insurer and plan. There is no way to sugarcoat these health insurance premium hikes: they are across different insurers, they are devastating, and many will not be able to afford them. Why is this happening? The insurers themselves attribute it to Republican actions… This is a scandal and a disgrace and Virginians are going to be hurt very badly, especially those who can least afford it. It is so infuriating… Congress must act immediately to undo the Trump/GOP sabotage and take steps to rein in costs. It is still possible to help if we work together for solutions. Right now this is awful news for Virginians, but we will not be the only ones. Americans in other states will feel the same pain of health premium increases, and some may get hit even harder. The GOP did this on purpose. They have to let us fix it.” [Twitter, 5/4]

Virginian-Pilot: “Cigna And CareFirst Said Trump Administration Policies, Including The Repeal Of The Individual Mandate, Led To The Proposed Increases.” “Two of the insurance companies that participate in Affordable Care Act exchanges in Virginia are seeking clearance for large increases in premiums for next year…  Cigna and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield are two of seven insurers that offer policies under what is known as Obamacare… Cigna and CareFirst said Trump administration policies, including the repeal of the individual mandate, led to their proposed increases. Cigna said it anticipates sicker people entering the market, a result of the individual mandate being repealed. Cigna also cited ‘anticipated changes to regulations’ involving short-term plans and association health plans as a reason for the requests.” [Virginian-Pilot, 5/4]

The Hill: Insurers “Cited Policies Advocated By The Trump Administration” As Justification For Increases. “Two of Virginia’s ObamaCare insurers are requesting significant premium hikes for 2019, according to initial filings released Friday. Both Cigna and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield cited policies advocated by the Trump administration, including the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate, as part of its justifications for the increases… The pro-ObamaCare group Protect Our Care Campaign was quick to attack the administration following the news. ‘Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits,’ said the group’s director, Brad Woodhouse. ‘D.C. Republicans should start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable, instead of helping their friends in the insurance industry make another buck on the backs of hardworking Virginians.’” [The Hill, 5/4]

Fierce Healthcare: Premiums Could Rise 64% “And Insurers Are Blaming President Donald Trump And Congressional Republicans.” “Premium increases for exchange plans could swell as much as 64% in Virginia next year if proposed rate hikes hold up. And insurers are blaming President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans. According to preliminary filings submitted on Friday, two of Virginia’s largest ACA insurers, Cigna and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, are requesting significant premium hikes for next year in response to planned policy changes by the Trump administration and the GOP’s repeal of the individual mandate… The insurers cited repeal of the individual mandate and ‘anticipated changes to regulations’ to short-term health plans as reasons for the drastic increases. Congressional Republicans repealed the mandate last year as part of its tax overhaul, and the Trump administration has moved to extend the short-term health plan duration to 12 months. Both policies are projected to drive younger, healthier people from the markets, raising premiums for those who remain.” Fierce Healthcare, 5/6]

Politico: “This Time It’s Democrats Taking Advantage Of The Proposed Spikes To Blame President Donald Trump And Hill Republicans, Arguing They Have Taken Several Actions That Will Destabilize Insurance Markets.” “The initial glimpse of premium increases is predictably prompting political jockeying that will continue throughout the summer and fall as officials finalize next year’s prices. Unlike prior years, this time it’s Democrats taking advantage of the proposed spikes to blame President Donald Trump and Hill Republicans, arguing they have taken several actions that will destabilize insurance markets.” [Politico, 5/7]

Andy Slavitt, Former Acting CMS Administrator: “Trump Is Giving Insurance Companies Unfettered Ability To Charge What They Want, Deny What They Want, Cover What They Want, And Make Unlimited Profits.” [Twitter, 5/5]

Larry Levitt, Kaiser Family Foundation: “With Insurers Now Mostly Profitable In The ACA Individual Insurance Market, I Would Have Expected Single-Digit Premium Increases For 2019 Reflecting Health Cost Growth. With Repeal Of The Individual Mandate And Expansion Of  Short-Term Plans, Double-Digit Hikes Are Now Likely.” [Twitter, 5/7]

Joe Scarborough: “This Is A Coming Sign Of The Times That Will Haunt A Republican Party That Sabotaged America’s Health Care System Instead Of Replacing Or Reforming It.” [Twitter, 5/6]

Charles Gaba, ACA Signups: “For Anyone Who Doesn’t Believe The Latest Batch Of [Sabotage] By Trump Isn’t Gonna Jack Rates Up Next Year, I’ve Already Got Receipts Out Of Virginia.” [Twitter, 5/6]

Jon Favreau: “Enjoy Premium Hikes Of 64%, Brought To You By Republican Control Of Washington. And That Number Will Climb Even Higher If Republicans Keep Congress And Continue To Sabotage The Affordable Care Act In 2019.” [Twitter, 5/4]

David Certner, AARP: “Steps Could (And Should) Have Been Taken This Past Year To Hold Down Health Care Premiums. Instead, The Reverse Has Happened, And Now Insurers In Virginia Propose Major Premium Hikes For 2019.” [Twitter, 5/6]

ashoup
In News

Virginia Insurance Companies, Citing Trump Health Care Sabotage, Plan to Raise Rates Again this Fall

As preliminary Virginia rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated a potential double-digit average premium increase due to D.C. Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“For the past year and a half, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have engaged in a deliberate, aggressive campaign to undermine health care and insurance companies in Virginia are the first to take advantage of it. While they make huge profits and enjoy record tax breaks from Republicans, they are planning to charge working families even more. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. D.C. Republicans should start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable, instead of helping their friends in the insurance industry make another buck on the backs of hardworking Virginians.”

From the Filings

Cigna: “On average, customers will see an increase of 15.0%”; significant factors behind the rate request include “elimination of the Individual Mandate penalties” and “anticipated changes to regulations regarding Short Term Medical and Association Health Plans.”

CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield: “Requesting an average base increase of 64.3%.”

Why Virginians’ Insurance Is Getting Even More Expensive: The Trump Administration and Washington Republicans Keep Sabotaging Health Care

While spending most of last year trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and waging a war on our health care, President Trump and Republicans in Congress have also used their control of Washington to actively undermine the Health Insurance Marketplaces every chance they get – leading insurance companies to raise premiums for 2018 and 2019 and, in some cases, forcing them out of the individual market altogether. Washington Republicans’ goal is simple: sabotage and undermine the Affordable Care Act, then blame everyone but themselves for the consequences of their actions. President Trump keeps rooting for disaster, saying that “The best thing we can do…is let Obamacare explode” and “Let it be a disaster because we can blame that on the Democrats.”

Now, initial rate filings in Virginia forecast double-digit rate hikes again this fall because of Republican sabotage.

The Trump Administration’s sabotage will punish Americans by jacking up premiums again, compounding the damage done last year, when Republican sabotage pushed rates up by a national average of 37 percent, and 66 percent in Virginia.

  • The Republican tax bill’s repeal of a key Affordable Care Act provision and the Trump Administration’s junk plan proposal will increase individual market premiums in Virginia by an average 19.1 percent this fall, according to a recent Urban Institute study.
  • This sabotage-driven rate hike will make the damage Republicans inflicted last year through repeal attempts and sabotage even worse.
  • Higher premiums will mean fewer working families can afford coverage: during the first year of the Trump Administration, millions more Americans joined the ranks of the uninsured – the highest increase since Gallup started tracking the uninsured rate.

This could have been avoided: if Republicans had stopped sabotaging health care, American families wouldn’t be facing another huge increase this fall.

  • Even the Trump Administration has admitted that the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces had been stabilizing prior to them coming into office.
  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had predicted only modest rate increases if Republicans hadn’t sabotaged the markets.
  • Even Senate Republicans admitted this fall’s upcoming rate hikes were “avoidable,” but then they torched bipartisan stabilization talks at the last minute, prioritizing partisan politics over their last opportunity to help American families afford health care next year.

Despite Republican sabotage, the Affordable Care Act has improved Virginians’ care.

  • 400,015 Virginians signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
  • Thanks to the Marketplace, Virginia’s uninsured rate fell by 1.7 percent between 2013 and 2016 as Virginians have gained access to affordable coverage.
  • Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that Virginia premiums for 2019 could rise 19.1 percent more because of the Trump Administration’s junk plan proposal and the Republican tax bill’s repeal of a key Affordable Care Act coverage incentive.
  • Even despite sabotage, Affordable Care Act subsidies help keep coverage affordable for 81 percent of Virginia Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $82 per month.
  • But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income Virginians could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

Virginians won’t forget that Washington Republicans & the Trump Administration keep forcing up health care costs to score political points.

  • Health care costs are a top issue in nearly every major issue-ranked poll in 2018.
  • Voters overwhelmingly trust Democrats over Republicans on health care costs.
  • In poll after poll, voters resoundingly reject President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage campaign against the Affordable Care Act. 

KEY QUOTES

America’s Health Insurance Plans: Republican Sabotage Will “Drive Up The Rate Of Premium Increases. “Policies that disproportionately draw healthy consumers away from the individual market, like expanding access to short-term plans, will likely have an even more devastating effect on affordability, choice and competition. This will further result in adverse selection, drive up the rate of premium increases, and exacerbate affordability issues for many other people.” [America’s Health Insurance Plans Letter to HHS, 4/20/18]

CEO of CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield: Things Are “Materially Worse” Under Trump. “Continuing actions on the part of the administration to systematically undermine the market and make it almost impossible to carry out the mission…If continued efforts at the federal level undermine the marketplaces, I would think the board would have to examine what they would want — that’s very much on their mind.” [Washington Post, 5/1/18]

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey: 2018 Premium Increase Was Due To Federal Policy. “Three factors connected to federal policy decisions are responsible for 14.7% of the 24.3% total average individual premium increase: Weakened enforcement of the Individual Mandate…Elimination of federal funding for Cost Sharing Reductions (CSR), [and] 2018 reinstatement of Health Insurance Tax…Were it not for the three factors within the control of the Federal Government, Horizon BCBSNJ’s individual premiums would have an average increase of 9.6%.” [Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, 10/17/17]

Lindsey Graham: Republicans “Own The Outcome” On Health Care. “Sen. Graham told Breitbart News, ‘In October, premiums are going up. Obamacare cannot be fixed. It’s going to continue to collapse, and then, we own the outcome. By repealing the individual mandate, which is a step forward in the eyes of the public, we own the issue. We have a responsibility to do something about the collapsing Obamacare system. I believe that we’re going to get blamed more than Democrats because we stopped trying to repeal Obamacare, and to suggest that we don’t own it is just simply politically naive.’ Graham continued, ‘It can hurt us in 2018. It can hurt by our base feeling like we betrayed them. It can hurt us from people suffering from Obamacare, like we don’t have a solution. It will energize Democrats. It can undercut everything we did on the tax cut side.’” [Breitbart, 2/6/18]

Rep. Charlie Dent: “We, The Republican Party…Own” Health Care Now. “Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) argued Friday that President Trump was ‘ill-advised’ to end key ObamaCare payments, warning that the GOP now ‘owns’ whatever happens to ObamaCare. ‘I think the president is ill-advised to take this course of action because … we, the Republican Party, will own this,’ Dent, a key House moderate who is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, said on CNN. Asked about Trump’s previous comments blaming problems with ObamaCare on former President Barack Obama, Dent pointed out that Republicans currently control the White House and have majorities in both chambers of Congress. ‘Barack Obama is a former president. President Trump is the president and he’s a Republican, and we control the Congress,’ Dent said. ‘So we own the system now. We’re going to have to figure out a way to stabilize this situation … This is on us.’” [The Hill, 10/13/17]

Washington Post: “The Pottery Barn Rule Comes To Mind: You Break It, You Own It.” “This is not ‘letting’ Obamacare fail. Many nonpartisan experts believe that these active measures are likely to undermine the pillars of the 2010 law and hasten the collapse of the marketplaces. The Pottery Barn rule comes to mind: You break it, you own it. Yes, the plate you just shattered had some cracks in it. But if you dropped it on the ground, the store is going to blame you.” [Washington Post, 10/13/17]

Washington Post: “Trump’s Not Going To Be Able To Avoid Blame For Kneecapping Obamacare.” [Washington Post, 10/13/17]

“After Months Of Pinning The Blame For Obamacare’s Shortcomings On Democrats And Watching His Own Party Fail To Act, President Donald Trump Just Took Ownership Of A Struggle That’s Consumed Republicans For Seven Years.” “After months of pinning the blame for Obamacare’s shortcomings on Democrats and watching his own party fail to act, President Donald Trump just took ownership of a struggle that’s consumed Republicans for seven years. Trump’s decision late Thursday to end government subsidies to insurers to help lower-income Americans afford to use their coverage under the Affordable Care Act was the most drastic step he’s taken to undermine his predecessor’s signature achievement. It also lobbed a live bomb into the laps of Republicans lawmakers 13 months before congressional elections after he publicly berated the party’s Senate leadership for being unable to keep a longstanding promise to repeal the law.” [Bloomberg, 10/13/17]

The American People Agree: President Trump And Congressional Republicans Are Playing Politics With People’s Health Care. A poll conducted last September found that 61 percent of voters believed President Trump was “trying to make the Affordable Care Act fail,” and 64 percent of voters said Trump is “playing politics with people’s health care.” The poll also found that the American people seriously disapprove of how Republicans in Congress are treating health care: 80 percent of voters disapprove while only 20 percent approve. [Hart Research Poll, 9/5/17]

ashoup
In News, Roundup

COVERAGE ROUNDUP: A Year Later, Americans Remember House Republican Vote to Repeal Our Health Care

Associated Press: A Year After ‘Obamacare’ Vote, Democrats See Election Cudgel. “The Democratic charge on health care represents a turnaround from recent elections… [and] the failed GOP repeal effort helped turn the tables. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll last month showed people trust Democrats over Republicans for handling health care by 18 percentage points. A Kaiser Health Tracking Poll in February showed Obama’s law with a favorable rating from 54 percent of Americans, its highest score in more than 80 Kaiser surveys since the statute’s enactment. Marking the vote’s anniversary, progressive groups planned more than a dozen rallies Friday from California to Virginia. The liberal Save My Care was airing a 30-second television ad in Washington, D.C., showing top Republicans celebrating the House vote with Trump in the White House Rose Garden. ‘We won’t forget’ appears on a black screen after newscasters intone the bill’s impact, including letting insurers charge higher prices for people with pre-existing medical conditions.” [AP, 5/4]

Bakersfield Californian: A Year Later, Congress’ Attack On Healthcare Consumers Continues. “One year ago, May 4, 2017, is a day that should live in infamy for 14 California Representatives, including Bakersfield’s congressman Kevin McCarthy, who led the effort to shred healthcare protections for their constituents. While key parts of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and other federal programs ultimately survived, it was only by a margin of a single vote in the U.S. Senate. We should never forget that these irresponsible Representatives voted for the so-called American Health Care Act and against their own constituents and that they continue attempts to undermine our health system… On this anniversary, Californians cannot forget the decisions made by their Congressmembers, or the continued attempts and administrative attacks on our health care. We must not just remember the past, but work to protect our health care into the future.” [Bakersfield Californian, 5/2]

Washington Examiner: Obamacare Allies Attack Gop To Mark Anniversary Of House Repeal Vote. “Obamacare advocacy groups and allies are trying to remind voters ahead of the November midterm elections about the one-year anniversary of the House’s passage of Obamacare repeal. Groups are planning ads, rallies, and other outreach efforts on Thursday and Friday centered around the May 4 anniversary of the House vote… Protect Our Care is holding a series of 18 to 20 events across 13 states Thursday and Friday…  The actions come as Democrats and Obamacare allies hope to hammer Republicans for their attempts to repeal Obamacare in the midterms. Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse said that exit polls in several special elections that Democrats won showed healthcare as a top issue.” [Washington Examiner, 5/3]

Athens Messenger: Reflections On The American Health Care Act. “One year ago, on May 4, 2017, the House of Representatives passed the so-called ‘American Health Care Act,’ or AHCA. The health care repeal bill would have cut coverage, increased costs, and eliminated protections for tens of thousands of Ohioans. The bill also would have imposed an ‘age tax,’ letting insurers charge people over 50 times more for coverage, and put the health of one in five Americans on Medicaid — including seniors, children and people with disabilities — in jeopardy… As we remember the devastation that we narrowly escaped thanks to the Senate striking down the House’s AHCA, we must recommit ourselves to fighting for our health care, holding our representatives in Congress accountable, and, come November, voting out of office those who put partisan politics and big donors before us, their constituents.” [Athens Messenger, 5/4]

Huffington Post: For The First Time In An Election Cycle Since Obamacare’s Passage, A Majority Of The Public Now Approves Of The Health Care Law. “One year ago, President Donald Trump and House Republicans gathered in the Rose Garden for a victory ceremony. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had just shepherded through a bill repealing major parts of the Affordable Care Act, moving them a step closer to their promise of undoing President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. ‘We don’t have to talk about this unbelievable victory — wasn’t it unbelievable? So we don’t have to say it again. But it’s going to be an unbelievable victory, actually, when we get it through the Senate,’ Trump boasted, standing in front of beaming House members… ‘We see health care as the defining issue of the 2018 midterms,’ said David Bergstein, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. ‘The Republican health care agenda is incredibly toxic with voters of every political persuasion.’ For the first time in an election cycle since Obamacare’s passage, a majority of the public now approves of the health care law. Democrats now have a sizable advantage over the GOP on the issue, and candidates frequently bring up their support for Obamacare while meeting with voters.” [Huffington Post, 5/4]

Des Moines Register: A Year Later, Republicans’ American Health Care Act Is A Nightmare For Small Businesses. “One year ago this week, a majority of the House of Representatives, including representatives Rod Blum, David Young and Steve King, voted for and passed the so-called ‘American Health Care Act,’ or AHCA, an ACA repeal bill that would have cut coverage, increased costs and eliminated protections for more than 100,000 Iowans. They proved that they are willing to play political games with Iowa’s health care, including thousands of small businesses, farmers, entrepreneurs and the self-employed in their very own districts.” [Des Moines Register, 5/4]

The Hill: Say It With Me: Democrats Are The Party Of Health Care. “From looking at the polling, special election outcomes and national sentiment, the answer should be clear to all of us: Democrats are the party of health care… There has been a sea change for ObamaCare in America. Today, the law is favored by 49 percent of Americans and opposed by 41 percent in the Real Clear Politics average. According to Gallup, 56 percent now believe health care is the government’s responsibility, while only 42 percent think it’s not. A Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll even found that 51 percent support single-payer coverage, while 43 percent oppose it… This sentiment takes on special importance because Friday is the one-year anniversary of the Republicans voting to repeal ObamaCare. So when they say ‘MAGA!’ to you, simply reply ‘Health care!’ to them.” [The Hill, 5/3]

East Central Minnesota Sun This Week: “I Will Be Forever Grateful That The Senate Failed To Pass A Bill.” “May 4 is the one-year anniversary of the day the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Jason Lewis, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. If this bill would have passed Congress, people we know would have lost their coverage through the repeal of the Medicaid expansion. Many people, especially seniors, would have been faced with the uncertainty of premium increases. I will be forever grateful that the Senate failed to pass a bill later in the summer.” [Sun This Week, 5/3]

New York Times: On Anniversary Of House Obamacare Repeal, Democrats Look To Extract A Price. “All told, the House bill would have increased the number of people without health insurance by 14 million this year and by 23 million in 2026, the Congressional Budget Office estimated… Beyond the House repeal bill, Democrats have also developed a broader argument that Republicans have inflicted damage on health insurance markets, partly because of actions taken by the Trump administration to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Just this week, they gained an assist from an unlikely figure: Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s former secretary of health and human services, who said that ending the requirement that most people have coverage, known as the individual mandate, would increase costs for people buying insurance. Helping the Democrats, polls have shown that the Affordable Care Act has gained in popularity since the 2016 elections. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted last month, Democrats had an 18-percentage-point edge when people were asked which party they thought would do a better job dealing with health care.” [NYT, 5/2]

Albany Times Union: Ad Campaign Targets Faso, Stefanik & Tenney. “On the anniversary of Congress’ passage of the American Health Care Act, which would have repealed key parts of the Affordable Care Act, the labor union 1199SEIU is launching a radio and print ad campaign to remind local voters of that three New York representatives who supported that version of the bill. The union, in a statement, said that the goal of the campaign is to remind voters of that efforts to sabotage healthcare and Medicaid are still ‘a very real threat.’” [Times Union, 5/4]

USA Today: Democratic Candidates Running On Health Care After GOP Attempts To Repeal Obamacare. “Friday marks the year anniversary of House Republicans’ vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.  It was the first vote of a months-long effort from congressional Republicans to get rid of the law. It ultimately failed in the Senate, but it left many Republicans on record voting to remove millions of Americans from the rolls of the insured — and Democrats are hammering them for it. After years of playing defense on health care, Democratic candidates have made it a top issue this election cycle. They are pledging to fix the flaws in Obamacare while targeting Republican attempts to “sabotage” it and take coverage away. And grassroots organizations that protested Republican efforts are keeping up the pressure with events planned around the anniversary. ‘This is going to be a continuing conversation throughout the election,’ said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. ‘I’m seeing this as an issue in every state.’” [USA Today, 5/2]

New Jersey Globe: New Kim Video Hits MacArthur On Health Care Vote. “Democratic congressional candidate Andy Kim is using the one-year anniversary of Rep. Tom MacArthur’s move to repeal Obamacare to launch a new web video ad that slams the GOP congressman for introducing legislation ‘that tried to take away health care for millions of Americans.’ In ‘Holding MacArthur Accountable,’ Kim points to the birth of his son as the moment he decided to run. ‘Last year, the doctor told me and my wife that our baby boy might not be able to make it. We had to prepare ourselves for the fact that he might have a problem that would affect him for the rest of his life,’ Kim says in the ad. ‘I remember turning to my wife and telling her that if our family gets through this, if our baby is born healthy, that I will do whatever I humanely can to hold Tom MacArthur accountable for what he did. That’s why I’m running for Congress.’” [New Jersey Globe, 5/4]

Roll Call: Liberal Groups Release Polls Showing Health Care Could Hurt GOP Incumbents. “A sizable percentage of voters surveyed said they were less likely to support Republican incumbents who voted for the GOP health care bill. More voters surveyed in the districts also approved of the health care law than disapproved. ‘It has been one year since House Republicans proudly voted for health care repeal, and it is clear that their constituents have neither forgotten nor forgiven them,’ Tim Hogan, a spokesman for Health Care Voter, said in a statement.” [Roll Call, 5/4]

ashoup
In News, Stories

Today, Americans Remember House Republicans’ Inexcusable Repeal Vote

Washington, D.C. – One year ago today, 217 House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The so-called “American Health Care Act” would have cut coverage, increased costs, and eliminated protections for millions of Americans. On the vote’s one-year anniversary, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“One year ago today, Congressional Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They voted to kick 23 million Americans off of their health insurance, raise premiums by double-digits for every American, and jeopardize the health care of millions of women. They voted to once again allow insurance companies to discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions, cut coverage off by applying arbitrary lifetime caps, and refuse coverage for maternity care and substance abuse treatment. They voted to implement a $12,000 ‘age tax’ on seniors, take away a crucial lifeline for rural hospitals, and cut Medicaid by $1 trillion, a crippling blow to a program that insures 77 million Americans. And they did it all to give a $600 billion tax break to the wealthy and insurance and drug companies.

“In the face of pleas from constituents with serious medical conditions, advocacy from Americans whose lives have been saved by the ACA, and polls that showed the public opposed the bill by a 3-1 margin, House Republicans voted to kick 23 million Americans from their health care and then went to the White House to celebrate.

“A year later, we haven’t forgotten. In races across the country, from a Pennsylvania Congressional district Donald Trump won by twenty points to a Wisconsin state Senate seat Republicans had held since the turn of the century, health care has been cited as a top issue, carrying Democrats to victory. Dozens of House Republicans, including Speaker Paul Ryan, have announced their retirement. And Americans have made clear their frustration with Republicans’ war on our care will continue: rallies will take place today from coast to coast, voters of all political stripes are rejecting GOP repeal proposals, and candidates for federal, state, and local offices spurred to run because of last year’s vote are saying loud and clear: we won’t forget.”

PROTECT OUR CARE COMMEMORATES THE ANNIVERSARY:

  • Retire Repeal Website. Protect Our Care today is launching a microsite, Retire Repeal – We Won’t Forget, to honor the House Republicans who voted to take health care away from their constituents and resigned or announced their retirement well before the end of their term.

  • Events. Protect Our Care and partner groups will host over twenty events across the country,  reminding GOP elected officials who supported repeal that voters will continue holding them accountable for their actions.

 

 

 

ashoup
In News, Stories

This Week in the War on Health Care

While Congress was away on recess this week, Republicans continued their unprecedented assault on the American health care system – capped off by the one year anniversary of their vote to take health care away from 23 million Americans. Here’s what happened in the war on health care – and why the past seven days have shown, yet again, that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay:

ONE YEAR AGO: HOUSE REPUBLICANS VOTED TO KICK  23 MILLION AMERICANS OFF OF THEIR INSURANCE

One year ago tomorrow, House Republicans voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The so-called “American Health Care Act” would have kicked 23 million Americans off of their insurance, raised premiums double-digits, gutted Medicaid, and brought back discrimination for those with pre-existing conditions. Following this vote, House Republicans went to the White House to celebrate.

It would have devastated our health care, and ultimately became the most unpopular legislation in three decades before dying in the Senate. And yet…

REPUBLICANS PLOTTING YET ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT REPEAL

This morning, The Hill reported:

Conservative groups are hoping to release a new ObamaCare replacement plan later this month as they try to keep alive the repeal effort. The effort has been led by the Heritage Foundation, the Galen Institute and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who have been meeting at Heritage’s offices, along with other groups, roughly once a week for months….‘The White House fully supports the efforts of a broad coalition working to address the Obamacare disaster and increase affordable healthcare options for middle-class Americans,’ deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

Just as Sen. Bill Cassidy did today through a spokesman, every Republican senator who has not called on the GOP to move on from their repeal and sabotage campaign should do so.  Enough is enough – it’s past time for the GOP to end their war on our health care.

SECRETARY TOM PRICE ADMITS GOP SABOTAGE CAUSING PREMIUM INCREASES

On Tuesday, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price confirmed that President Trump and Congressional Republicans chose a trillion-dollar tax break for corporations and the wealthiest at the expense of hardworking Americans’ health care, repealing the individual mandate to finance a trillion-dollar tax break for the wealthiest and corporations.

Months ago when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the TrumpTax would raise premiums by ten percent while kicking millions of Americans off of their coverage, Republican senators responded by accusing CBO of bias and dismissing their findings. Now, one of the Trump Administration’s lead saboteurs has admitted the truth: Republicans are responsible for upcoming rate hikes.

NEW SURVEY FINDS: 4 MILLION AMERICANS HAVE LOST COVERAGE SINCE 2016

On Tuesday, the Commonwealth Fund released a new survey which found nearly 4 million people have lost coverage since 2016. The uninsured rate among working age people is now 15.5 percent, a significant increase from 12.7 percent in 2016. Why did this occur? As Axios noted, “Commonwealth attributes the increase largely to the way Congress and the Trump administration has handled the ACA.” And while this development was completely avoidable, Americans are not standing by…

RECLAIM IDAHO SUBMITS 60,000 SIGNATURES TO GET MEDICAID EXPANSION ON THE BALLOT

On Monday, organizers from Reclaim Idaho, in a state which Donald Trump carried by more than thirty points, submitted the more than 60,000 signatures necessary to get a Medicaid expansion vote on the ballot come November.

While Gov. Butch Otter was working to sabotage the ACA, the people of Idaho were working to secure a vote on covering 62,000 more of their neighbors by expanding Medicaid. This week they succeeded, and Republican-governed states would do well to take heed: when you actively work to make your constituents’ health coverage worse, citizens take matters into their own hands.

Congratulations to the people of Idaho! We couldn’t imagine a better way to cap off this year’s Medicaid Awareness Month.

ashoup
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“Trump’s Former Top Health Official Just Broke With Him On The GOP’s Biggest Move To Undercut Obamacare”: Tom Price Admits That Trump, GOP Sabotage Responsible for Higher Costs

This morning, former HHS Secretary Tom Price admitted what every health policy expert, the Congressional Budget Office, state insurance commissioners – namely everyone other than repeal-supporting Republicans – has long said: the Trump Administration is responsible for the increase in premiums. Speaking of the repeal of the individual mandate, Price said, “And there are many, and I’m one of them, who believes that that actually will harm the pool in the exchange market, because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks within that market.” Here’s how it played:

Washington Post: Trump’s Former Health Secretary: Americans Will Pay More Because GOP Weakened Obamacare. “President Trump’s former top health official on Tuesday said the Republican tax law would raise the cost of health insurance for some Americans because it repealed a core provision of the Affordable Care Act. Tom Price, Trump’s first secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said people buying insurance on government-run marketplaces will face higher prices because the tax law repealed the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. The mandate had forced most Americans to have health coverage or face a financial penalty.” [Washington Post, 5/1]

Business Insider: Trump’s Former Top Health Official Just Broke With Him On The GOP’s Biggest Move To Undercut Obamacare. “Tom Price, the former Health and Human Services Secretary under President Donald Trump, criticized a key Republican change to Obamacare during a speech Tuesday. Speaking at the World Health Care Congress, Price suggested the Republican Party’s repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate — the requirement to buy insurance or face a penalty — was a faulty idea. He said it would drive up costs for people in the individual insurance marketplace.” [Business Insider, 5/1]

Vox: Trump’s Ex-Health Secretary Accidentally Told The Truth About Obamacare Repeal. “Repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate will hurt the law’s insurance marketplaces because fewer young and healthy people will buy coverage, leaving an older, sicker, and more expensive pool behind. Just ask, uh, former Trump health secretary Tom Price. Price, who was forced out of the US Health and Human Services Department last year after a scandal over luxurious charter jet travel, accurately described the pitfalls of the GOP’s decision to repeal the mandate in its tax bill in a speech to the World Health Care Congress in Washington, DC. This is, of course, exactly what health policy experts would tell you. The mandate didn’t quite work as well as planned, but the expectation is still that younger and healthier people are going to leave the Obamacare markets without it — especially with the Trump administration making cheaper, less comprehensive plans more available via regulation.” [Vox, 5/1]

Slate: Tom Price, Somewhat Belatedly, Starts Telling the Truth About Obamacare. “It took longer than expected, but disgraced former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price appears to have been welcomed back into polite society. Untethered from the political concerns that dictated what he could say either as a congressman or Cabinet member, Price is now able to tell certain truths about health care policy—though, in telling them now, he only confirms his own dishonesty about them when it mattered. Speaking at the World Health Care Congress on Tuesday morning, Price laid out the consequences of congressional Republicans’ decision to eliminate the individual mandate penalty in last year’s tax reform bill.” [Slate, 5/1]

Washington Times: Tom Price: Repeal Of Obamacare Mandate Will Drive Up Costs. “Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Tuesday the GOP’s decision to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate without a broader overhaul of the heath care system will likely increase costs on consumers who remain in the program. The comments from Mr. Price, who was ousted from HHS last fall over his pricey business travel, were remarkable, since he claimed the mandate was ineffective while in office. Also, Democrats have been making the same argument in accusing President Trump and his Republican allies of sabotaging the 2010 law’s marketplace.” [Washington Times, 5/1]

USA Today: Former HHS Sec. Price: Repealing The Individual Mandate ‘Will Harm’ People Insured Through Obamacare. “Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Tuesday that repealing the requirement that all Americans have health insurance or face a tax penalty, may not have been such a good idea after all… Price’s comments come the same day the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that studies health care and says it is focused on helping the most needy members of society, came out with a study that found since 2016 4 million working-age people no longer have insurance coverage. The foundation said the drop in coverage was not connected to a repeal in the individual mandate but instead due to  weaknesses with the current health care law that remain unfixed and the Trump Administration’s cuts to advertising and outreach related to getting people signed up for Obamacare.” [USA Today, 5/1]

CNBC: Trump’s Former Health Secretary, Tom Price, Now Thinks Repealing The Individual Mandate Will Increase Costs. “ormer Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price used to say that Obamacare’s individual mandate increased health-care costs. Now he’s saying Congress’ decision to repeal it could actually increase costs. Lawmakers repealed the individual mandate, which penalized people who did not purchase health insurance, in the GOP tax reform bill President Donald Trump signed into law in December. The change goes into effect next year. Price argued Tuesday, in a speech at the World Health Care Congress in Washington, that the move amounts to ‘nibbling at the sides’ of the Affordable Care Act, long a target of the GOP and Trump – and that it would probably boost costs.” [CNBC, 5/1]

Splinter News: Tom Price, Disgraced Ex-Trump Official, Admits He’s Also a Huge Liar. “Price said he ‘believes [the repeal] actually will harm the pool in the exchange market, because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks within that market.’ This is a very interesting development, given that last year, when he was actually in a position to influence whether or not this happened, he supported the repeal.” [Splinter News, 5/1]

The Hill: Tom Price: Obamacare Mandate Repeal Will Drive Up Costs. “Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price on Tuesday said that the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate would drive up costs, a remark seized on by Democrats… Democrats immediately highlighted the remark from President Trump’s own former health secretary and fierce opponent of ObamaCare. They say his statement reinforces the argument that Republicans are to blame for coming premium increases in large part due to their repeal in the December tax bill of the mandate that most people obtain health insurance or pay a fine. ‘We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves,’ Matt House, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), said in email linking to Price’s comments. Added Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ‘I’m glad to see former Secretary Price admit the truth, which is that families’ premiums are going up because President Trump and Republicans in Congress have spiked prices with their relentless, partisan health care sabotage.’” [The Hill, 5/1]

Inside Health Policy: Price: Individual Mandate Repeal Will Drive Up Costs, Hurt Risk Pools. “Former HHS Secretary Tom Price, who was at the helm of HHS during the Trump administration’s 2017 efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, told attendees at the 2018 World Health Care Congress that he is not a fan of the repeal of the federal individual mandate penalty and said the measure tucked into the new tax law will drive up costs and hurt the risk pools.” [Inside Health Policy, 5/1]

Talking Points Memo: Tom Price: Individual Mandate Repeal Will ‘Harm’ Insurance Exchanges. “Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, now safely out of power, said Tuesday that Republicans’ repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate will ‘harm’ the individual insurance marketplace… Price is making a mundane point to most health care policy experts: If, beginning in 2019, individuals on the non-group market are allowed to avoid choosing between paying for insurance or paying a penalty, many healthy people will simply drop their insurance. As a result, prices for individuals remaining in Obamacare’s individual insurance marketplaces will go up. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2016, and again in 2017, that repealing the individual mandate would increase the number of uninsured people in the United States.” [TPM, 5/1]

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Republicans Knew Premiums Would Go Up When They Sabotaged Your Health Care, But They Did It Anyway

For the past year and a half, Republicans have waged a non-stop war against the Affordable Care Act. Throughout 2017, Republicans tried time after time to repeal the Affordable Care Act, slashed funding for outreach, ended cost-sharing reduction payments that helped low income Americans afford health care, and passed a tax bill that the Congressional Budget Office predicts will strip health care from 13 million Americans and raise premiums by double digits.  

Throughout their many layers of sabotage, Republicans have played ignorant, trying to cover up the fact that their votes will send Americans’ premiums skyrocketing. Just this morning, former HHS Secretary Tom Price called out Republicans’ lies, saying that the tax bill’s repeal of the individual mandate “will harm the pool in the exchange market, because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks within that market.”

Just one month after voting for a tax bill that the CBO projected would raise insurance premiums by double digits, Sen. Ted Cruz acted as though he had wanted to lower premiums the whole time: “I think lowering premiums is a win-win for everybody…The number one reason people despise Obamacare is that premiums have skyrocketed.” As much as Republicans try to distance themselves from it, the fact of the matter is clear: they knew they were voting to raise premiums, and they chose to do it anyway.

EACH STEP OF THE WAY, EXPERTS WARNED THAT SABOTAGE WOULD DRIVE PREMIUMS UP

The Trump Administration Deliberately Tried To Reduce Enrollment Of Healthy Individuals By Halting Outreach, Despite Commonly Understood Consequence That This Would Increase Premiums.

  • January 2017: In “Transparent Effort To Damage Stability Of Health Insurance Marketplace,” President Trump Abruptly Halts Open Enrollment Ads. In the final week of open enrollment, President Trump ended ads that let people know they could sign up for the Affordable Care Act. As Politico notes, “The last five days of the open enrollment season are seen as critical because many individuals procrastinate and then join a last-minute sign-up surge. That’s particularly true for younger and healthier customers who are crucial to making insurance markets work.”
  • February 2017: Analysis Shows Trump’s Cuts To Outreach Prevent Nearly 500,000 People From Getting Coverage. Following Trump’s initial cuts to outreach, it was estimated that Trump’s cuts blocked nearly 500,000 people from getting coverage. When fewer healthy people are able to purchase care, experts agree that premiums increase.
  • August 2017: Trump Administration Cuts Aca Advertising Budget By 90 Percent, Despite Evidence That It Will Cause Premiums To Increase. [Vox, 8/31/17]
  • Because The Administration Still Refuses To Adequately Fund Outreach, Insurance Commissioners Warn That Premiums Will Continue To Increase. Peter Lee, the head of California’s ACA Marketplace wrote in a letter to HHS that premiums would go up because of the Administration’s failure to properly fund outreach: “The reality is clear: If the federal government maintains the current cuts in marketing and outreach, premiums will be higher than necessary, consumers will be hurt as a result and taxpayers will pay the price by supporting higher [than] necessary subsidies. This does not need to happen and can easily be avoided…Drops in new enrollment are a formula for a worse risk mix and higher premiums.” [Letter to HHS, 4/25/18]

Months Before The Trump Administration Ended Payments That Helped Lower Income Americans Afford Insurance, The CBO Warned That Doing So Would Raise Premiums By 20 Percent. President Trump Ended Them Anyway:

  • August 2017: CBO Warns That Premiums Will Increase By 20 Percent If Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments Are Terminated. “If President Trump follows through on his threat to stop paying billions of dollars of subsidies critical to insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, insurance premiums for certain plans would rise by 20 percent next year, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.” [Washington Post, 8/15/17]
  • October 2017: Trump Administration Decides To Halt Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments. Despite the CBO’s warning that ending cost-sharing reduction payments (CSRs) would cause premiums to rise by 20%, the Trump Administration decided to do so anyways. [Washington Post, 10/13/17]
  • After The Fact, Insurance Commissioners Did Exactly What The Cbo Said Would Happen — They Raised Premiums. Jessica Altman, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner: “This is not the situation I hoped we would be in, but due to President Trump’s refusal to make cost-sharing reduction payments for 2018 and Congress’s inaction to appropriate funds, it is the reality that state regulators must face and the reason rate increases will be higher than they should be across the country.” [CNN Money, 10/17/17]
  • Now, Research Confirms That Ending CSRs Caused Premiums To Jump, And Is Expected To Do So Again In 2019. RWJ’s interviews with ten insurance companies found that the loss of cost-sharing reduction plan reimbursements drove premium increases in 2018 ranging from 10 to 20 percent. [Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute, 3/19/18]

Republicans Knew That Repealing The Requirement That Most People Have Insurance Would Drive Up Premiums, And Rushed To Do So Without Public Comment:

  • November 2017: Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Estimates That Repealing The Individual Mandate Will Push Premiums Up By 10 Percent Annually. Last fall, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released numbers that repealing the requirement that most people have insurance would increase premiums by roughly 10 percent each year for the next decade. [Congressional Budget Office, November 2017]
  • November 2017: Sen. Susan Collins Acknowledges That Repealing Individual Mandate Would Raise Premiums. “‘One of the major concerns I had was the impact on premiums of repealing the individual mandate,’ [Collins] said Tuesday, referring to government estimates that repealing the mandate would raise insurance premiums by at least 10 percent as healthier consumers leave the market.” [Talking Points Memo, 11/29/17]
  • December 2017: Republican Senate Hurries To Pass Final Gop Tax Bill, Which Repeals Individual Mandate Despite Cbo Analysis That It Will Drive Premiums Up, In The Dark Of The Night And Without Public Hearings. Senate Republicans were determined to stop discussion on their tax bill from ever seeing the light of day. In December, they passed their tax bill in a matter of weeks, without hearing any public hearings. The process was so rushed that entire pagers were crossed out of the final version of the bill, and amendments were handwritten and barely legible.

After Sen. Collins Exchanged Her Vote On The Tax Bill For A Promise To Pass ACA Stabilization, Republicans Sabotage Bipartisan Efforts To Pass Bill That Would Help Control Premium Hikes:

  • December 2017: To Counteract The Increase In Premiums That Would Follow Repealing The Individual Mandate, Sen. Susan Collins Exchanges Tax Bill Vote For Aca Stabilization Bill. Sen. In exchange for her vote on the GOP tax bill, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, President Trump, and Vice President Trump committed to passing a health care stabilization measure. [Washington Post, 12/15/17]
  • March 2018: After Pushing The Stabilization Vote Into The Next Year, Republicans Refused To Vote On Stabilization Unless Democrats Agreed To A List Of Deal Breaking Demands. In the middle of bipartisan negotiations on stabilization, the White House released its list of demands, including: Expanding the Hyde abortion language, codifying the Administration’s Short-Term proposal into law that undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions, expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) that is essentially another tax cut for the wealthy, mposing an age tax on older Americans by letting insurers charge people over 50 five times more than younger people. [White House Document, obtained by Politico, 3/8/18]
  • March 2018: There Is No Vote On Stabilization. [New York Magazine, 3/26/18]

Ignoring Warnings From Health Insurers, Trump Administration Proposes Changes To Short-Term Health Plans That Would Drive Up Premiums For Americans In Individual Marketplace:

  • July 2017: In Letter To HHS, America’s Health Insurance Plans Warns That Allowing Short-Term Plans To Offer Coverage For More Than Three Months At A Time Will Drive Up Premiums. “A blanket extension of the permitted length of short term policies will draw lower risk people out of the individual market single risk pool and drive up premium costs for consumers.” [America’s Health Insurance Plans Letter To HHHS, 7/12/17]
  • October 2017: President Trump Signs Executive Order That Expands Access To Short-Term Health Plans. President Trump’s executive order allows short-term plans to last for 12 months and be renewable, a notable change from the previous rule, which limited these plans to three months and prevented them from being renewed. [The Atlantic, 10/12/17]
  • February 2018: Administration Releases Fact Sheet On Short-Term Rule That Would Allow Insurers To Sell Year-Long Plans. [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2/20/18]
  • March 2018: Nonpartisan Urban Institute Says Premiums Will Increase By Nearly 20 Percent. Confirming what experts had warned of, the Urban Institute calculated that increasing the availability of short-term health plans, when combined with the repeal of the individual mandate, would lead premiums to increase by an average of 18.3 percent in 2019. [Urban Institute, March 2019]
  • March 2018: AARP Analysis Projects Short-Term Plans Will Cause Older Americans’ Premiums To Increase By 16.6 Percent. As a result of President Trump and his Republican allies’ pushing junk insurance plans, AARP expects premiums for older Americans buying marketplace health coverage to increase by an average of 16.6 percent in 2019.  [AARP, 3/21/18]

Each Of The Administration’s Decisions Is Designed Drive People Off Of Health Care And Increase Premiums:

  • Katherine Hempstead, health insurance expert at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Anything That Undermines The ACA-Compliant Risk Pool Is Bad For Premiums.  “Anything that undermines the ACA-compliant risk pool is bad for premiums in the ACA market…Every exit ramp makes that market more expensive and less competitive than it otherwise would be.” [Modern Healthcare, 4/26/18]

NOW, THE CONSENSUS IS IN: REPUBLICANS KNOWINGLY DROVE UP PREMIUMS

Vox: Republican Sabotage To Blame For Premium Hikes. “The Trump administration’s multifaceted crusade against the health care law — slashing outreach budgets and pulling the law’s cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers — were already to blame for a 20 percent premium hike this year. Then Congress repealed the individual mandate in their tax bill, a huge political victory given the GOP’s vehement opposition to the mandate but one that insurers have said would drive up premiums even more next year.” [Vox, 4/25/18]

Washington Post: “The Pottery Barn Rule Comes To Mind: You Break It, You Own It.” “This is not ‘letting’ Obamacare fail. Many nonpartisan experts believe that these active measures are likely to undermine the pillars of the 2010 law and hasten the collapse of the marketplaces. The Pottery Barn rule comes to mind: You break it, you own it. Yes, the plate you just shattered had some cracks in it. But if you dropped it on the ground, the store is going to blame you.” [Washington Post, 10/13/17]

The American People Agree: President Trump And Congressional Republicans Are Playing Politics With People’s Health Care. A poll conducted last September found that 61 percent of voters believed President Trump was “trying to make the Affordable Care Act fail,” and 64 percent of voters said Trump is “playing politics with people’s health care.” The poll also found that the American people seriously disapprove of how Republicans in Congress are treating health care: 80 percent of voters disapprove while only 20 percent approve. [Garin Poll, 9/5/17]

RECENT HEADLINES PAINT A TELLING PICTURE

EVEN REPUBLICANS ADMIT THEY’RE TO BLAME

Sen. Lamar Alexander: “Rates Will Go Up…They’re Going To Blame Every One Of Us, And They Should.” On the topic of failing to pass a stabilization bill, Sen. Alexander said: “Rates will go up. The individual market will probably collapse…There will be 11 million people who are between jobs, who are self-employed, who are working, who literally cannot afford insurance, and they’re not going to be very happy. And they’re going to blame every one of us, and they should.” [Vox, 4/25/18]

Lindsey Graham: Republicans “Own The Outcome” On Health Care. “Sen. Graham told Breitbart News, ‘In October, premiums are going up. Obamacare cannot be fixed. It’s going to continue to collapse, and then, we own the outcome. By repealing the individual mandate, which is a step forward in the eyes of the public, we own the issue. We have a responsibility to do something about the collapsing Obamacare system. I believe that we’re going to get blamed more than Democrats because we stopped trying to repeal Obamacare, and to suggest that we don’t own it is just simply politically naive.’ Graham continued, ‘It can hurt us in 2018. It can hurt by our base feeling like we betrayed them. It can hurt us from people suffering from Obamacare, like we don’t have a solution. It will energize Democrats. It can undercut everything we did on the tax cut side.'” [Breitbart, 2/6/18]

Rep. Charlie Dent: Republicans “Own” Health Care Now. “Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) argued Friday that President Trump was ‘ill-advised’ to end key ObamaCare payments, warning that the GOP now ‘owns’ whatever happens to ObamaCare. ‘I think the president is ill-advised to take this course of action because … we, the Republican Party, will own this,’ Dent, a key House moderate who is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, said on CNN. Asked about Trump’s previous comments blaming problems with ObamaCare on former President Barack Obama, Dent pointed out that Republicans currently control the White House and have majorities in both chambers of Congress. ‘Barack Obama is a former president. President Trump is the president and he’s a Republican, and we control the Congress,’ Dent said. ‘So we own the system now. We’re going to have to figure out a way to stabilize this situation … This is on us.'” [The Hill, 10/13/17]

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Administrator Verma Rejects Responsibility For Sabotage As Americans Bear Brunt Of Trump Administration’s Damage

SHOT:

CMS Chief Seema Verma Slams Claims That She And Trump Administration Have Sabotaged Americans’ Health Care [MedPage Today]:

“‘I take exception to those out there who have made claims that we have tried to sabotage the healthcare of the American people, particularly when it comes to the healthcare exchanges,’ [Verma] said here at the World Health Care Congress. ‘Obamacare was failing long before Donald Trump became president and I became CMS administrator.’

“The reality, said Verma, is that health insurers have fled the exchange markets ‘after losing millions of dollars.’”

CHASER:

Since President Trump Came Into Office, Millions Of Americans Have Lost Health Coverage. A recent survey by the Commonwealth Fund shows that nearly 4 million people have lost coverage since 2016. The uninsured rate among working age people is now 15.5 percent, a significant increase from 12.7 percent in 2016.

Why? Because The Trump Administration Has Sabotaged The Affordable Care Act. Per Axios, “Commonwealth attributes the increase largely to the way Congress and the Trump administration has handled the ACA.”

CHASER:

More Evidence Of The Administration’s Sabotage: Health Care Premiums Will Increase By An Average of 18.3 Percent In 2019. Because Republicans repealed the requirement that most people have insurance and are expanding access to short-term health plans, the nonpartisan Urban Institute estimates that health care premiums will increase by an average of 18.3 percent in 2019.

CHASER:

The Administration Is Bringing Back Junk Insurance That Leaves Americans On Their Own Should They Get Sick. The Trump Administration expanding access to short-term health plans that let insurers deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, impose coverage limits, and refuse to cover basic health benefits like maternity care and prescription drugs. These plans help insurers make money while leaving Americans who get sick on their own, often with tremendous debt.

Experts, Disease Groups, And Advocates Warn That Short-Term Plans Will Increase Costs And Reduce Protections For Consumers:

AARP: Short-Term Plans Will Increase Older Americans’ Premiums By An Average Of $2,000, or As Much As $4,000. “Unfortunately, these changes would result in much higher premiums for older adults and people with preexisting health conditions buying individual policies through the ACA Marketplace…Using 2018 Marketplace premiums, we estimate these premium increases could be an average of $2,000 — or as much as $4,000 (Table 1) — for 60 year-olds who buy silver plan coverage.” [AARP, 3/21/18]

Margaret Murray, CEO of Association for Community Affiliated Plans: Short Term Plans “strip every provision that might be of value to a patient.” “Not only do STLDI plans not cover pre-existing conditions, but what was covered when you bought the plan can be excluded three months later when you try to renew the plan. Rescissions are rampant in the STLDI market, leading to retroactive cancellation of policies that stick patients with enormous medical bills.” [Washington Examiner, 4/26/18]

American Academy of Family Physicians: Short-Term Plans Would Destabilize Market. “We are troubled by how the proposed rule would further destabilize the individual market by drawing young, healthy people away from meaningful, comprehensive coverage…under the proposed rule, insurers could reduce or eliminate certain EHBs to avoid vulnerable, expensive patients by excluding specific services.” [Letter to HHS, 4/18/18]

Dr. David O. Barbe, president of American Medical Association: Short-Term Plans Result In “Inadequate” Health Coverage. “We believe the proposed rule, however, would culminate in plans being offered that fall far short of maintaining crucial state and federal patient protections, disrupt and destabilize the individual health insurance markets, and result in substandard, inadequate health insurance coverage.” [Forbes, 4/22/18]

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network: Short-Term Plans Are Exempt From Consumer Protections. “We are very concerned about policies that would expand access to STLD policies because these products are exempt from important consumer protections, such as prohibitions on lifetime and annual dollar limits, limits on the use of pre-existing condition exclusions, and the prohibition on medical underwriting…We are afraid that some consumers choose to enroll in STLD policies simply because of the lower premium and are unaware of the limitations of the coverage.” [ACS CAN letter to HHS, 4/20/18]

Alliance of Community Health Plans: Short-Term Plans Will Cause Insurers To Flee The Market.  “ACHP is also concerned that the proposed rule will cause more insurers to flee the market, leaving consumers with fewer coverage options.” [Letter to HHS, 4/19/18]

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Ex-Secretary Tom Price: Trump and GOP Responsible For Upcoming Rate Hikes

Washington, D.C. – In response to former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s comments this morning to the World Health Care Congress that Republicans’ TrumpTax bill and its individual mandate repeal will increase Americans’ health care costs, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“Today, President Trump’s own former HHS secretary, Tom Price, admitted that the Republican tax bill’s sabotage of the Affordable Care Act will increase health care costs. Ex-Secretary Price has confirmed that President Trump and Congressional Republicans chose a trillion-dollar tax break for corporations and the wealthiest at the expense of hardworking Americans’ health care. Months ago when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the TrumpTax would raise premiums by ten percent while kicking millions of Americans off of their coverage, Republican senators responded by accusing CBO of bias and dismissing their findings. Now, one of the Trump Administration’s lead saboteurs has admitted the truth. Americans now have it straight from Tom Price: Republicans are responsible for upcoming rate hikes.”

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Protect Our Care Statement on Idaho Medicaid Expansion Ballot Question Success

Washington, D.C. – After Idaho health care advocates announced that they have collected more than enough signatures to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot this November, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“While Idaho Governor Butch Otter was working to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, the people of Idaho were quietly working to secure a vote on covering 62,000 more of their neighbors by expanding Medicaid. Today they succeeded. Republican-governed states would do well to take heed: when you actively work to make your constituents’ health coverage worse, citizens take matters into their own hands. Congratulations to the people of Idaho, and especially to the committed grassroots activists who secured today’s success. I couldn’t imagine a better way to cap off this year’s Medicaid Awareness Month.”

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