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Advocates Nationwide Highlight How Medicaid Supports Seniors and Older Adults

Throughout the third week of Medicaid Awareness Month, advocates across the country highlighted the significant role Medicaid plays supporting seniors and older adults, and spoke out against Republican proposals to weaken and cut Medicaid. Medicaid covers more than 15 million Americans over age 50.

In Arizona, the the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Arizona Alliance for Healthcare Security joined state Reps. Daniel Hernandez and Cesar Chavez to discuss how Medicaid serves a lifeline to Arizona’s Seniors and older Americans.

How does Medicaid help seniors and older adults in the United States? Here are some of the many ways:

  • More Than 6.9 Million American Seniors Have Medicaid Coverage. 6,920,200 seniors, age 65 and older, are enrolled in Medicaid.
  • More Than 8.5 Million Adults Ages 50 To 64 Are Enrolled In Medicaid. More than 8.5 million Americans ages 50 to 64 have health coverage through Medicaid – many thanks to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.
  • Nearly 1 In 3 Seniors Live Below 200 Percent Of The Federal Poverty Line. For many of these seniors, Medicaid is a critical lifeline.
  • Medicaid Funds 53 Percent Of Long-Term Care Nationwide. As seniors age, long-term care services become more and more vital, serving half of seniors over age 75 and three in four seniors over age 85.
  • Medicaid Covers 6 In 10 Nursing Home Residents. The average annual cost of nursing home care is $82,000 – nearly three times most seniors’ annual income.
  • Over 1 In 5 Medicare Beneficiaries Also Have Medicaid Coverage. Most dual-eligibles are over age 65, and are more likely to have complex and chronic health needs.

In West Virginia, West Virginians Together for Medicaid, West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, West Virginia Citizen Action Group, and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy joined together to discuss the importance of Medicaid for seniors in the state and how cuts to the program be devastating for older West Virginians.

In the Daily Post-Athenian, Pam Weston of Sweetwater, Tennessee highlighted the benefits Medicaid provides for Tennessee residents:

In Tennessee alone, Medicaid provides coverage for 1,539,743 of our citizens, a number which includes children, senior citizens, and persons with severe disabilities. If Tennessee had implemented Medicaid expansion, the number eligible for coverage would have easily surpassed 2 million.

What many may not realize is that Medicaid provides $4 billion annually to support school-based health services. Sixty-eight percent of Tennessee’s schools use Medicaid funds to provide school nurses, counselors, and speech therapy. Outside the school setting, Medicaid covers 43 percent of all Tennessee’s children.

At a time when the opioid epidemic is a concern for most of Tennessee, it is important to note that 10 percent of all buprenorphine used to treat opioid addiction is paid for by Medicaid dollars.

Lastly, three out of five nursing home residents rely on Medicaid to cover their healthcare needs, and nearly a quarter of all seniors and individuals with disabilities are covered by Medicaid.

If $1.4 trillion is to be cut from Medicaid to offset the tax breaks provided to cororations under the recent “tax reform” plan, should the cuts be applied to medically fragile seniors, children, or to those with disabilities? It is said that a nation is judged by how it cares for it’s most vulnerable citizens. Cuts and per capita caps applied to Medicaid services will leave our most vulnerable without the care they require, and that does not speak well for what we have become.

In Tennessee, six Nashville residents, including small business owners, non-profit directors, and reverends, shared their personal stories of how Medicaid has benefitted their mother, fathers, and grandparents and grandparents.

Lindsey Copeland highlighted the work of Medicaid Awareness Month for the Medicare Rights Center.

And in The Hill, Max Ritchman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, highlighted how just how important Medicaid is for older Americans’ health. Read his post:

April is Medicaid Awareness Month, but many Americans are truly unaware of what the program does for seniors. Medicaid is typically viewed as a health insurance program for the poor, which, of course, it is. But it also provides crucial supports for older Americans. Medicaid covers nearly 7 million seniors and more than 8.5 million “near seniors” aged 50-64. One in five Medicare beneficiaries (known as “dual eligibles”) also have Medicaid coverage to help pay premiums and co-pays.

Many people don’t realize that Medicaid helps millions of seniors to pay for long-term care  — in skilled nursing facilities as well as in-home and community-based care. In fact, Medicaid pays for more than 50 percent of long-term care nationwide. The program covers 6 in 10 nursing home residents. At an average annual cost of $82,000 (nearly three times most seniors’ annual incomes) long-term care would simply be out of reach for millions of elderly Americans if it weren’t for Medicaid.

“Seniors often need services from Medicaid that are not covered by Medicare,” says Rebecca Vallas, VP of the Poverty Program at the Center for American Progress. “These services include assistance with bathing and dressing, preparing meals, and many other activities of daily living.” Vallas explains that Medicaid “allows millions of seniors to age in place, to stay with their families and in their communities.”

In a Facebook Live interview this week, Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) told me that Medicaid is “the backbone for our healthcare infrastructure across the country.” But the Congressman isn’t confident that Americans sufficiently appreciate the crucial role that Medicaid plays. “So many [people] have heard of these programs,” said Rep. Kennedy, “But they don’t quite understand how integral they have become to preserving the dignity, the stability, the security of so many Americans.”

President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicaid and Medicare into law in 1965, and it’s no accident that the two were created simultaneously. Both programs were designed to provide health insurance to vulnerable members of society who previously went without medical coverage  — including the poor and the elderly. Over the past half a century, Medicare and Medicaid have been expanded to cover more people and more services.

Medicaid’s ability to cover older Americans at a time of their lives when chronic conditions and other health issues typically emerge took a big leap forward with passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA expanded Medicaid to cover people earning up to 138 percent of the poverty line. As a result, more than 15 million additional Americans received federal health coverage.

Many of those were in the 50-64 age group that typically has trouble buying private health insurance. According to the Center for Retirement Research, “The share of Americans ages 50-64 without insurance fell by 6.4 percentage points between 2012 and 2016 — due at least in part to increased Medicaid enrollment in the expansion states.”

Unfortunately, Medicaid has been under siege in Congress ever since the ACA was enacted. When the majority party took control of all branches of government in 2017, they tried relentlessly to gut the program  — starting with Obamacare repeal legislation all the way through President Trump’s first two budgets and various House GOP budget proposals.

The details vary in each dark scenario, but the commonalities included cutting more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, imposing per capita caps on payments to the states, or converting it into a block grant program. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that these draconian measures would have resulted in 14 million Americans losing health coverage over the next ten years.

Even though those devastating proposals failed, Medicaid remains under assault from the right. The Trump/GOP tax cuts enacted last December will blow a $1.5 trillion hole in the national debt, inviting deep cuts to Medicaid (as well as Medicare and Social Security). Meanwhile, according to Americans for Tax Fairness, when the new tax law is fully phased in, 83 percent of the tax cuts will go to the wealthiest 1 percent.

Unsatisfied with the mere prospect of slashing Medicaid, the majority party offered a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) last week that would have triggered $114 billion in Medicaid cuts in a single year. The BBA attracted 233 votes (mostly along party lines), but fortunately failed to win the 2/3 of the House it would have needed to advance to the Senate.

The onslaught continues in the Trump administration, which is busy granting waivers for work requirements, drug testing, and other bureaucratic barriers that will result in Medicaid patients being kicked off the rolls.

“President Trump and his colleagues in Congress appear to have learned from their failed attempt to take away health insurance from tens of millions legislatively… that they need to do it in a back-door way, without the public catching on,” says Vallas.

Ironically, the right’s efforts to destroy the ACA and gut Medicaid have made Americans more aware of the program’s value. “They did something that Democrats couldn’t do for a long time. They made Medicaid popular,” says Rep. Kennedy.

Indeed, a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll conducted in March found that 74 percent of Americans have a positive opinion of Medicaid, including 65 percent of Republicans. In that same poll, 7 in 10 respondents said that they have a personal connection to Medicaid  — either because of their own medical coverage or their child’s, or indirectly through a family member or friend.

In a recent poll by the Center for American Progress, a whopping 80 percent of respondents (across party lines) said they oppose cutting Medicaid. “The Trump agenda of dismantling health care is the opposite of what the American people want,” says Vallas. “Americans want their policymakers to ensure that everyone has access to healthcare, not take away programs like Medicaid that make it possible for grandma to be in the nursing home.”

Our elected leaders need to understand that these Americans whose lives have been touched by Medicaid  — or likely will be by the time they are older — are people for whom Medicaid is a lifeline. They are not figures on a ledger, despite budget hawks’ tendency to view them that way. Even if our leadership isn’t sufficiently aware, it’s important that all of us  — their constituents — understand the myriad benefits that Medicaid provides seniors and everyone else who truly needs them. In fact, let’s make every month “Medicaid Awareness Month” until the program is safe from attack by budget slashers and properly fortified for the future.

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This Week in the War on Health Care

While Americans paid up on Tax Day, Republicans continued their unprecedented assault on the American health care system. Here’s what happened this week in the war on health care – plus two stories you should be sure to read:

TRUMP’S TAX DAY: TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH, HIGHER HEALTH CARE COSTS FOR YOU

On Tax Day, as millions of Americans worry that their health care costs are expected to increase by double digits because of the Republican tax bill, wealthy insurers were celebrating huge tax breaks thanks to President Trump and Congressional Republicans. As the Washington Post reported:

“The tax overhaul certainly unlocked more profits for the industry. It not only lowered the domestic corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, a huge boon to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, but it also enticed drug and biotech companies to bring home huge overseas cash reserves by slashing taxes on those earnings, too. Pfizer, which has been mentioned as a potential buyer of Shire, announced an extra $10.7 billion in reported income for 2017 because of the tax changes. Allergan, UnitedHealth and Anthem have also recorded a benefit from the tax overhaul, according to a recent analysis by Bloomberg. Indeed, all five major U.S. health insurers have announced the tax overhaul will increase their revenue this year.”

But, for people who work for a living, the TrumpTax means higher health care costs:

  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that the premiums will go up 10% each year because of the TrumpTax.
  • A recent Urban Institute Urban study found that premiums are expected to rise 18.3% due to actions taken by the Trump Administration.
  • And an analysis from by Covered California projected that premiums could rise as much as 90% due to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign.
  • 20 Americans will lose their coverage for each millionaire’s tax break.

Every American who sees their health care costs go up should remember that their rising health care costs were brought to them courtesy of Donald Trump and the GOP.

PRESIDENT TRUMP VOWS HIS ADMINISTRATION WILL CONTINUE SABOTAGING ACA

On Monday in Florida, President Trump vowed to continue his sabotage campaign against the Affordable Care Act, saying the GOP’s tax bill brought about “the end of Obamacare” and expressing his support for proposed association health plans, calling them “tremendous insurance.”

He left out the fact that his war on our care already threatens millions of Americans’ insurance, is raising premiums double-digits for millions more, and has seriously damaged the individual market – and that his response has been to embrace junk insurance scams like association health plans, which have a history of fraud and have been condemned by experts across the country.

KOCH BROTHERS LAUNCH LATEST ANTI-CARE SALVO IN MONTANA

In Montana, Americans for Prosperity released a new, misleading ad against Sen. Jon Tester. They forgot to mention that because their Republican allies in Congress have been waging a war on health care that will raise costs, take away coverage, and gut protections for those with pre-existing conditions, Montana families will see their premiums go up an average of $2,100 this fall and 46,000 Montanans could lose coverage altogether.

LOS ANGELES TIMES: HOW TRUMP’S OBAMACARE ADMINISTRATOR IS TAKING A HATCHET TO OBAMACARE

Another Administration official responsible for Americans’ rising health care costs? CMS Administrator Seema Verma. Here’s the Los Angeles Times’ Michael Hilktzik:

It’s been well documented that the Trump White House has filled federal agencies with bureaucrats whose life work is destroying the very agencies they’ve been assigned to. But one is in a better position than her fellows to threaten the health of millions of Americans—and she’s been working at that assiduously. We’re talking about Seema Verma, who as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also is effectively the administrator of the Affordable Care Act. In the Trump administration, that has made her the point person for the Trump campaign to dismantle the act, preferably behind the scenes…

Verma never has concealed her hostility to Medicaid — especially Medicaid expansion, a provision of the ACA. Her animosity is fueled at least in part by ignorance (willful or otherwise) about the program. Back in November, on the very day that voters in Maine and Virginia were demonstrating full-throated support at the polls for expanding Medicaid in their states, Verma was unspooling a string of misleading statistics and suspect assertions about the program to support a policy of rolling back enrollment. Badmouthing Medicaid is pretty much the opposite of what a Medicaid administrator should be doing. It’s worse when there’s so little truth to the attack… Last month, after her superiors at the Department of Health and Human Services nixed an Idaho plan to eviscerate the ACA’s mandate of essential health benefits, she suggested to Idaho officials how they could circumvent the ACA’s mandate without being too obvious about it. She has cleared Kentucky to impose work requirements on Medicaid applicants, a historic first that is probably illegal and almost sure to drive as many as 300,000 enrollees out of the program in the very first year…

Republicans in Congress didn’t have the votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, so they’ve taken to underhanded stunts to try to accomplish the same thing, with Trump’s help. Their actions include effectively eliminating the individual mandate, which will guarantee that the pool of ACA enrollees will be sicker next year than last year, driving up costs; and promoting cheaper, skimpier short-term health plans, which will leave their policyholders without crucial coverage or consumer protections just at the point they need these benefits for their health, while also draining healthier enrollees from full-benefit ACA plans.

These actions will almost certainly lead to a spike in premiums for 2019. “It’s just still a nasty soup right now that’s brewing,” Matt Eyles, a top executive at America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry lobbying arm, warned at a Washington conference last week. Trump and his fellow Republicans will be entirely responsible for the fallout, but they’ll have Seema Verma to thank for running interference.

SPOKESMAN-REVIEW: MCMORRIS RODGERS HAS TROUBLES WITH THE TRUTH ON PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS

And another Republican responsible for Americans’ rising health care costs? Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Here’s the Spokesman-Review’s Shawn Vestal:

“If it’s April, it must be time for Cathy McMorris Rodgers to start telling whoppers about health care. A year ago at this time, McMorris Rodgers tied herself in knots trying to justify her vote for the American Health Care Act, the failed effort to replace Obamacare. Just a few months before that vote, after all, she had co-sponsored legislation that would have prohibited something that the AHCA would allow: charging sick people more for insurance… Three months later, she voted for the AHCA, which would have allowed insurers to do just that in some cases. She was against it before she was for it…

The AHCA is dead and buried, but McMorris Rodgers is sticking to her story. Last week, in an interview on KREM, she was asked, “And so you would not vote for legislation that did not have protection for those with pre-existing conditions? She said, “Right. And I haven’t.” Which seems like the wrong answer, given that she voted for a bill that would have allowed states to charge some sick people more money for being sick…

Health care politics is complicated. Politicians can mislead by simply saying the humane-sounding thing and hoping no one pays attention to the details. McMorris Rodgers has said all along that she supports protecting people with pre-existing conditions. It’s a top priority, she says. A fundamental principle. She has said all along: She opposes charging sick people more for health insurance. She said it when sponsoring a law to outlaw the practice. And she said it when voting to allow it.

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Koch Brothers Launch Latest Salvo in the Republican War on Montanans’ Care

Washington, D.C. – In response to Americans for Prosperity releasing a new, misleading ad against Sen. Jon Tester, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“The Koch Brothers and their Republican allies in Congress have been waging a war on health care that will raise our costs, take away coverage, and gut protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Thanks to the Republican tax bill, pharmaceutical and insurance companies are getting billions of dollars in tax breaks while many Montana families will see their premiums go up an average of $2,100 this fall, and 46,000 Montanans could lose coverage altogether. Enough is enough: it’s time for the Koch brothers and their allies in Congress to stop their war on Montanans’ health care.”

BACKGROUND

INSURANCE COMPANIES AND PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES GET BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THE REPUBLICAN TAX BILL

The Republican Tax Bill Is A $10 Billion Giveaway For Insurance Companies.  An Axios analysis found 21 health insurance companies collectively expected to gain $10 billion in tax breaks in 2018 alone. Most of the money is being used for buybacks, dividends, acquisitions and paying down debt — with just a sliver for one-time employee bonuses, research and internal investments. [Axios, 3/5/18]

The Republican Tax Bill Is A $50 Billion Windfall For Pharmaceutical Companies.  According to an Axios analysis, the pharmaceutical industry is using a large portion of its savings from the Republican corporate tax break to boost its stock prices. Nine drug companies are spending a combined $50 billion on new share buyback programs, far outstripping investments in employees or drug research and development. [Axios, 2/22/18]

THE REPUBLICAN TAX BILL WILL RAISE PREMIUMS AND TAKE COVERAGE AWAY FROM MONTANANS

The Republican Tax Bill Means Higher Costs, Especially for Older Montanans. A Center for American Progress estimate shows that in Montana, family premiums in the marketplace will increase on average by $2,100 in 2019. Older Montanans would not be spared. The AARP estimates a 64-year-old in Montana will have to pay $1,551 more in premiums because of health repeal, essentially an age tax for people over 50. [Center for American Progress, 11/16/17, AARP, 11/21/17]

The GOP Tax Bill Will Cost 46,000 Montanans Their Health Coverage. As a result of the tax bill, an estimated 46,000 Montanans will lose coverage by 2025. [Center for American Progress, 11/16/17]

REPUBLICAN SABOTAGE WILL RAISE THE COST OF HEALTH CARE FOR MONTANANS

Urban Institute: Premiums For Montanans Will Increase An Average Of 19.8 Percent Next Year. An Urban Institute study found that, “the actions President Trump and Congressional Republicans have taken to sabotage the health care markets will artificially inflate individual insurance premiums by an average of 19.8 percent in Montana for 2019.” [Urban Institute, 3/14/18]

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Washington Post Report: Latest Example of GOP’s Health Care Winners and Losers

The Washington Post recently reported that “health industry giants get tax windfall” in a story about all the way big health insurance companies are benefiting from massive tax breaks in the TrumpTax.

Health industry giants get tax windfall. But it’s unclear how it will be used.

Washington Post // Paige Winfield Cunningham // April 18, 2018

[…] “One thing is for sure, however: the tax overhaul certainly unlocked more profits for the industry. It not only lowered the domestic corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, a huge boon to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, but it also enticed drug and biotech companies to bring home huge overseas cash reserves by slashing taxes on those earnings, too.

“Pfizer, which has been mentioned as a potential buyer of Shire, announced an extra $10.7 billion in reported income for 2017 because of the tax changes. Allergan, UnitedHealth and Anthem have also recorded a benefit from the tax overhaul, according to a recent analysis by Bloomberg.

“Indeed, all five major U.S. health insurers have announced the tax overhaul will increase their revenue this year.”

But, for people who work for a living, the TrumpTax means higher health care costs.

  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that the premiums will go up 10% each year because of the TrumpTax.

  • A recent Urban Institute Urban study found that premiums are expected to rise 18.3% due to actions taken by the Trump Administration.

  • And an analysis from by Covered California projected that premiums could rise as much as 90% due to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign.

“Analysis after analysis and report after report all show the same thing: big pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies are putting these tax breaks into their pockets while picking the pockets of working people through higher health care costs. This analysis only further underscores the most basic and predictable result of the TrumpTax: America’s largest health corporations are seeing huge profits while continuing to raise Americans’ health care costs,” said Brad Woodhouse, Protect Our Care Campaign Director.

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Trump’s Tax Day: Tax Breaks For the Rich, Higher Health Care Costs For You

Washington, D.C. – On Tax Day, as millions of Americans contend with health care premiums expected to increase an average of 18 percent, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“This Tax Day, wealthy health insurers and rich pharmaceutical companies get huge tax breaks thanks to Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans. Meanwhile, people who work for a living get higher health care costs.

“The TrumpTax will take health insurance away from 13 million people and raise premiums double-digits each year for millions more to fund a trillion-dollar tax break for the wealthiest individuals and corporations. 20 Americans will lose their coverage for each millionaire’s tax break.

“Every American who sees their health care costs go up should remember this Tax Day that their rising health care costs were brought to them courtesy of Donald Trump and the GOP.”

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TrumpTax Bill Kicks 20 Americans Off Coverage Per Millionaire Tax Cut

To: Interested Parties
From: Brad Woodhouse, Campaign Director, Protect Our Care
Date: April 16, 2018
Re: TrumpTax Bill Kicks 20 Americans Off Coverage Per Millionaire Tax Cut

Last December, President Trump and Congressional Republicans passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill that disproportionately benefits wealthy Americans and big corporations. As a result, millionaires will receive $29.8 billion in tax cuts in 2021 alone. To partially pay for these massive tax cuts, Republicans repealed the Affordable Care Act’s individual shared responsibility provision, which requires most people to enroll in health insurance or pay a penalty. Repealing this provision means higher premiums for working families and 12 million more Americans without health care in 2021, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

THE PRICE OF ONE MILLIONAIRE’S TAX CUT IS TWENTY AMERICANS’ HEALTH INSURANCE

How are Republicans ‘paying for’ millionaires’ tax cuts? By stripping working Americans of their health insurance. Here’s how the numbers break down:

  • In 2021, tax cuts for millionaires due to the Republican tax bill will total $29.8 billion. Meanwhile, taxes for those earning between $10,000 and $20,000 a year will increase by $1.9 billion.
  • In 2021, 12 million Americans are expected to lose health insurance because of the tax bill’s repeal of the individual mandate. This is projected to save the federal government $30.6 billion.
  • For each American who loses health insurance in 2021, federal spending will be reduced by $2,550. Meanwhile, millionaires will be receiving an average tax transfer of $51,000.

The bottom line: The average millionaire’s tax cut will come at the cost of 20 Americans’ health insurance.

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President Trump Vows to Keep Sabotaging Affordable Care Act

Washington, D.C. – Today in Florida, President Trump vowed to continue his sabotage campaign against the Affordable Care Act, saying the GOP’s tax bill brought about “the end of Obamacare” and expressing his support for proposed association health plans, calling them ‘tremendous insurance.’ Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement in response:

“President Trump today continued his crusade against the Affordable Care Act and Americans’ health care. Trump’s war on our care already threatens millions of Americans’ insurance, is raising premiums by double-digits for millions more, and has seriously damaged the individual market – and in response, the President has decided to embrace junk insurance scams like association health plans, which have a history of fraud and have been condemned by experts across the country. The new junk plan regulation that Trump today pledged to finalize within months is likely illegal, and will certainly cause even more turmoil in the insurance markets just before next year’s rates are finalized. Plans that can deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions and refuse to cover key services like hospitalization are the exact opposite of ‘tremendous insurance,’ and they join a long list of Trump Administration actions set to cause tremendous rate hikes this fall.

“While President Trump may say that ‘nobody remembers’ the Senate health care repeal bill, the truth is that Americans have not forgotten that Republicans threatened our care. We remember that Republicans tried to put insurance companies back in control; we remember they tried to leave the one-in-four Americans with a pre-existing condition out in the cold; and we remember that Republicans ignored our voices while pushing the most unpopular legislation in decades. Standing up to the war on health care is Americans’ top priority at the polls this year. As the Trump Administration continues to attack our care through harmful regulations and Republicans in Congress plot Medicare and Medicaid cuts, Americans will keep remembering, and the President and his party are right to fear the consequences of their destructive actions.”

TRANSCRIPT:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So we have the biggest tax cut in history, bigger than the Reagan tax cut, bigger than any tax cut. But what else? The individual mandate is gone. That’s on Obamacare, which is about the end of Obamacare. So we had Obamacare beat and one senator decided to go thumbs down. Do you remember that evening? No, nobody remembers. Thumbs down.

It’s all right, because Alex Acosta has come up and this is the plan that a lot of people have wanted for a long time, associations. And we’re going any tremendous sign-ups. Alex, when is that going to be ready where people can start signing and doing it in groups and through cooperatives, et cetera?

LABOR SECRETARY ACOSTA: That’s right, Mr. President, we hope to have that by this summer.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: It’s going to be incredible, you’re going to get tremendous insurance at a very low cost.

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Advocates Nationwide Highlight Medicaid’s Role In Combating Opioid Crisis

Throughout the second week of Medicaid Awareness Month, advocates across the country highlighted the significant role Medicaid plays in combating the opioid crisis – most notable being that in 2014 Medicaid paid for one-fourth of addiction treatment nationwide – and spoke out against Republican proposals to weaken and cut Medicaid.

In Ohio, Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney, Cheryl Beverly, Operator of Cheryl’s House of Hope, and Michelle McAllister, Coordinator for the Heroine Partnership Project, held a press conference to discuss how changes to the state’s Medicaid program would leave over 150,000 Ohioans that suffer from substance abuse disorders and mental illness without care.

Protect Our Care released an opioid crisis fact sheet, showing how Medicaid provides access to treatment and gives states more resources in combating the epidemic.

In Tennessee, Chip Forrester, a father who lost his son to opioids, held a roundtable discussion about the crisis and how restricting access to Medicaid threatens lives and impedes states’ ability to respond to the epidemic.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report analyzing how Better Integration of Medicaid and Federal Grant Funding Would Improve Outcomes for People with Substance Use Disorders.

ACA Medicaid Expansion Reduced Share of Opioid-Related Hospitalizations in Which Patient Was Uninsured

[CBPP]

In Ohio,  Jefferson County Commissioner Thomas Graham and health care leaders in Steubenville held a press conference to talk discuss how Medicaid benefits thousands of Ohioans suffering from substance abuse disorders.

And in Alaska and West Virginia, advocates held a virtual postcard sending party throughout the week to send notes thanking Sen. Lisa Murkowski for supporting Medicaid and encouraging her to continue doing so, culminating in a stand up event outside Sen. Murkowski’s Anchorage office emphasizing the role Medicaid plays in addressing the opioid crisis, and a press conference with faith leaders which focused on the opioid crisis and how West Virginia’s faith community can address substance abuse disorders in the state, respectively.

 

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GOP Blows Trillion-Dollar Hole in Budget, Responds by Attempting to Decimate Americans’ Health Care

In response to the House of Representatives voting on a balanced budget amendment, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“During the same week that the Congressional Budget Office found that the GOP’s Trump Tax will blow a trillion-dollar hole in the budget, Congressional Republicans have decided that fiscal prudence is of the utmost importance? Give me a break. By offering a proposal that would most likely mean devastating cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, Republicans are making their priorities clear: to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations, they want to put the health security of millions of seniors, children, and people with disabilities on the chopping block. It is useless to pretend this vote is anything other than another salvo in their relentless war on health care. Thankfully, it will be going nowhere.”

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This Week in the War on Health Care

While Facebook and confirmation hearings dominated Congress’ return to Washington this week, Republicans continued their unprecedented assault on the American health care system. Here’s what happened in the war on health care – and how five recent studies made clear the long- and short-term benefits of the Affordable Care Act:

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION STACKS DECK AGAINST HEALTH CARE SHOPPERS

On Monday, the Trump Administration finalized the “rules of the road” for next year’s ACA marketplaces, and they favor insurance companies over the American people, encouraging insurers to undermine protections for those with pre-existing conditions with a race-to-the-bottom approach while loosening restrictions on extreme rate hikes.

Moreover, despite the Administration’s own data showing that cuts to outreach and assistance dampened enrollment, especially among younger and healthier consumers, they pushed even further cuts to local assisters, ensuring it will be even more difficult for Americans to sign up for coverage next year.

This short-sighted, bad-faith rule is yet another brick in the wall that Republicans are building between the American people and access to good, affordable coverage.

EXPERTS PAN NBPP RULES

Among those who know health care the best, the rules were not well received. Here’s a sampling of what the experts said:

Andy Slavitt, Former Acting CMS Administrator: “Andy Slavitt, who was acting CMS administrator during the Obama administration’s final two years, countered that the current administration ‘is making it clear that they’re implementing a law that they have no intention of making succeed.’ Slavitt called the revisions ‘a gift to the insurance companies by finding lots of ways for them to get around the standards Americans have come to expect.’” [Washington Post, 4/9/18]

Sam Berger, Senior Adviser, Center for American Progress: “This rule reduces protections for people with pre-existing conditions, increases the cost of health coverage, and makes it harder for consumers to sign up for coverage. This past year has shown just how much consumers value quality, affordable health care, but rather than encourage awareness, lower prices, and promote market stability, the administration is more concerned with trying to undermine the law. This is just the latest example of the Trump administration putting its ideological crusade against the Affordable Care Act ahead of the health and well-being of the American people.” [4/9/18]

Avalere: “The final NBPP … allows for greater essential health benefit flexibility, which could lead to less generous benefits and worse access for consumers.” [4/9/18]

Matt Eyles, Incoming AHIP President and CEO: “When you think about things like the individual mandate going away, some of the other proposed rules that are being put in place, whether it be around association plans, short-term policies — it’s just still a nasty soup right now that’s brewing… We’re looking ahead to 2019, and it’s not a really great picture right now, but I know a lot of companies are committed to the market.” [Washington Times, 4/10/18]

U.S. PIRG: “Together, these changes will make it easier for health insurance companies to raise rates and reduce the value of health coverage for consumers. This is a big step in the wrong direction.” [4/9/18]

AFT Nurses and Health Professionals: “CMS gives states more power to cut health benefits, more profits to insurance companies, with fewer safeguards for coverage.” [4/10/18]

ADMINISTRATION ENCOURAGES WORK REQUIREMENTS TO FURTHER HARM AMERICANS

On Tuesday, President Trump privately signed an executive order encouraging federal agencies and states to strengthen existing work requirements in Medicaid and in critical public assistance programs – and he was right to hide.

We’ve seen solid evidence that imposing work requirements on non-employment-related federal programs not only fail to help people find jobs, but actually push hard-working Americans through the cracks while costing more in wasteful administrative overhead. The reality is that 8 in 10 adults with coverage through Medicaid live in working families.

By pushing states and federal agencies to adopt short-sighted and inhumane tactics to force even more Americans off their insurance and out in the cold, President Trump is aggressively continuing his war on our health care.

NEW REPORT CONFIRMS GOP TAX SCAM BENEFITS DRUG COMPANIES WHILE AMERICANS PAY MORE

Also on Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) released a major report confirming that none of the country’s ten biggest pharmaceutical companies have used any of their windfall from the GOP tax scam to lower drug prices for consumers, instead passing those benefits along to wealthy executives and shareholders.

The majority of Americans have always known the GOP tax scam was designed to enrich the wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations at the expense of everyday Americans and our health care, but this doesn’t make the findings any less distressing. Americans already pay a higher price for prescription drugs than consumers around the world, and big pharmaceutical companies have refused to lift a finger to provide relief from crippling prices.

It’s outrageous that pharmaceutical executives are further lining their own pockets instead of addressing the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs, and it represents even further proof the GOP tax scam was never intended to help ordinary Americans.

ADMINISTRATION STAGES OPIOID PHOTO-OP HOURS AFTER LATEST MEDICAID ATTACK

On Wednesday, Administration officials unveiled an opioid crisis installation on White House grounds just hours after the President signed the executive order escalating his Administration’s relentless attacks on Medicaid, the most critical federal program for connecting Americans with opioid treatment, showing just how out-of-touch they are with the reality of this crisis: its HHS Secretary is holding photo-ops with art installations instead of taking real action.

Rather than waging a war on this crisis, the Administration continues to wage a war on our health care – and until they call off their war on Medicaid, which covers 25 percent of all addiction treatment nationwide, President Trump and Secretary Azar will have zero credibility in the opioid crisis fight.

SEN. COLLINS’ SUNDAY SHOW DECEPTION ROUTINE

And as we head into another weekend, it’s worth revisiting what happened last weekend. On Sunday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) appeared on CNN’s State of the Union and proceeded to give a version of the events surrounding the GOP stabilization bill failure that do not hold up to scrutiny. Here’s what Sen. Collins said about the stabilization effort  – and what actually happened:

What Collins says now: What really happened:
Asked whether she was lied to to get her vote for the GOP tax scam, Sen. Collins responded, “No, I really don’t.” Last December, Collins said that a failure to pass stabilization would be a “serious breach of a promise.” When discussing the possibility that stabilization might not become law, Collins said, “I’m counting on the administration to make sure that does not happen…I would consider it a very serious breach of a promise to me.”
Sen. Collins stated she believes Majority Leader McConnell kept his promise to her: “I had the opportunity just two weeks ago to bring a package to the Senate floor with Lamar Alexander, so the Majority Leader kept his promise to me.” In Sen. Collins’ own words, she cast a vote to pass the tax bill because she had secured “commitments to pass legislation to help lower health insurance premiums.” She secured a commitment to pass stabilization, not just hold a vote on legislation. Not only did stabilization never pass, but no vote was ever held on Collins’ or Alexander’s health care stabilization package.
Sen. Collins continued to push a false narrative about what happened during stabilization efforts, saying, “Much to my surprise, [stabilization] was blocked actually by Senators on the other side of the aisle.” Republicans bear 100% of the responsibility for failing to pass legislation that would stabilize the Affordable Care Act. House Republicans, such as Rep. Tom Cole, went on the record indicating they opposed stabilization. The White House then released a list of extreme, deal-breaking demands. Sen. Lindsey Graham told Breitbart News, “[Obamacare] is 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.”  And in an op-ed she penned for the Portland Press Herald, Sen. Collins herself admitted price increases were entirely avoidable: “This proposal was the last clear opportunity to prevent these health insurance rate increases, which will be announced Oct. 1. The most frustrating thing about these imminent price increases is that they were entirely avoidable. Much about health care is complicated.”

STUDIES CONFIRM: ACA, MEDICAID IMPROVE HEALTH CARE ACCESS AND OUTCOMES, BOOST LOCAL ECONOMIES

Ultimately, however, despite everything that Republicans continue to throw at it, the ACA continues to improve the lives of Americans from coast to coast. Over the past month, five studies looking at the impact of the Affordable Care Act have been released: three analyzing Medicaid expansion, and two analyzing marketplace coverage. These studies covered a broad scope of health care-related outcomes, from treatment for chronic conditions to jobs created in a local economy, and each came to the same conclusion: the ACA is providing clear benefits for Americans.

  • Louisiana Department of Health: Medicaid Expansion and the Louisiana Economy. An April report analyzed Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion, finding that expansion brought a $1.85 billion economic impact to the state; created 19,000 new jobs; and extended medical services to over 545,000 Louisianans, leaving Gov. John Bel Edwards to note, “It is costing us less to have more people insured.”
  • University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research: Medicaid Expansion Has Boosted State’s Economy, Added Jobs, Improved Health Care. A March study examined Montana’s Medicaid expansion, finding that it created 5,000 new jobs and $280 million of personal income; saved the state $40 million in Medicaid benefits; and provided insurance to more than 94,000 Montanans. “Medicaid expansion is doing what it’s supposed to do, help Montanans live healthier lives and save the state money,” said State HHS Director Sheila Hogan.
  • America’s Health Insurance Plans: The Value of Medicaid: Providing Access to Care and Preventive Health Services. An April AHIP study compared coverage data for those under Medicaid, private insurance, and not covered, finding Medicaid enrollees to have access to care at levels comparable to private coverage and far better than those without insurance, leaving the authors to conclude the study’s findings “refute outdated, less rigorous studies that question the value of Medicaid.”
  • Health Affairs: Effects Of The ACA’s Health Insurance Marketplaces On The Previously Uninsured: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis. An April study compared adults who had gone through periods without insurance to those with continuous coverage, finding that the introduction of the ACA saw the uninsured rate decrease by 11 percentage points and the number of of individuals unable to access necessary care fall by two points, as well as more outpatient visits, more prescriptions being filled, and a higher probability of a hospital stay.
  • Health Affairs: The Affordable Care Act’s Marketplaces Expanded Insurance Coverage For Adults With Chronic Health Conditions. An April study examined the role the ACA marketplace had on non-elderly adults with chronic conditions, finding that far more Americans with chronic conditions obtained coverage through the marketplace, underscoring the law’s long-term benefits.

 

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