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protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement on President Trump’s Sabotage Executive Order

Washington, DC — In response to President Trump signing of an Executive Order this morning, which independent experts and state insurance commissioners agree will sabotage the country’s health care, raise health care premiums, deny access to coverage for millions of Americans and end affordable coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“President Trump’s Executive Order is a disaster for America’s health care which is exactly why he is doing it,” said Woodhouse. “Angry that Congress wouldn’t repeal the health care Americans depend on, President Trump is purposely trying to sabotage the law by creating garbage insurance which will undermine the market, raise premiums, reduce coverage and expose millions of Americans again to discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. If you were born with a health problem, or will ever get sick, you should be be very worried today. And to be clear, every dollar in premium increases, every denial of care you need and everyone discriminated against because of a prior illness will lay at the feet of President Trump and Republicans who support this approach or refuse to fight back.

“But even if they choose not to fight back we will. President Trump doesn’t get to have the final word on this — the courts, Congress and the American people will have the opportunity to be heard as well. This order is repeal of American health care by other means. Neither Congress nor the American people stood by for that failed legislative effort and there is no reason to stand by now and allow a president to sabotage the American health care system out of spite and pure politics.”

protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement on Trump’s Sabotage Executive Order

Recent reports and the opinions of experts indicate that President Trump will announce an Executive Order this week designed to sabotage the health care system and achieve some of the GOP’s health care repeal goals that have failed to pass in Congress and which have been rejected overwhelmingly by the American people. Trump’s sabotage will raise health care premiums, deny access to health care for millions of Americans and could result in the collapse of the individual insurance market.

According to experts, the Executive Order is expected to:

  • Destabilize the health insurance marketplace
  • Inject significant uncertainty in the health insurance marketplace just weeks before the start of the already-shortened open enrollment period
  • Increase costs for millions
  • Gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, making coverage for them unaffordable
  • Return power to insurance companies, who would be able to charge more for less care, including selling policies that don’t cover necessary care
  • Undermine the ability of state insurance commissioners to effectively regulate and rein in insurance companies

In response to this latest secret, partisan repeal effort undertaken without any input from experts, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“President Trump has gone from failing at repeal to flailing with sabotage, and the victim is our health care,” said Woodhouse. “This Executive Order is nothing but the latest, and most damaging, in a series of attempts to sabotage our health care by this administration. From the President’s order to dismantle the health care law on his first day in office to forcing rate hikes by threatening to cancel required payments, the Trump Administration isn’t filled with health care solutions; it’s filled with health care saboteurs.

“After bipartisan majorities in Congress and the overwhelming majority of the American people rejected his health care repeal, President Trump is still attempting to dismantle our health care out of vengeance.

“Republicans in Congress cannot sit by idly and let this happen. The GOP must stand up to this sabotage and force the Administration to protect and strengthen our health care, rather than let them play politics with people’s lives.”

protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement on Firing of HHS Secretary Tom Price

Washington, D.C. — Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement in response to the firing of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price:

“Tom Price was fired because he was more interested in spending taxpayer money on fancy air travel than helping people get health care. But for all the talk of his chartered flights, the most fireable offenses were his dishonesty in the pursuit of health care repeal and his efforts to put people’s lives at risk by sabotaging the law. Good riddance to Secretary Price — but what we really wish will go with him is the political spitefulness that has undermined the health care of the American people. This is an opportunity for President Trump and Republicans to turn the page, appoint someone untarnished by this administration’s repeal agenda and put people’s health above partisan politics.”

protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement on Trump Administration’s Continued Sabotage Following Legislative…

Today, BuzzFeed News reported that the Trump Administration is doubling down on its sabotage of the health care marketplace by ordering the Department of Health and Human Services’ regional directors to stop participating in open enrollment events. According to BuzzFeed News, all ten HHS regional directors “were told not to participate in state-based events promoting open enrollment — a significant change from years past,” and one that will surely be detrimental to enrolling people across the country. “I didn’t call it sabotage,” Mississippi Health Advocacy Program Executive Director Roy Mitchell said. “But that’s what it is.”

Earlier in the day Vox reported on the events in Mississippi being abruptly canceled, and it is now clear such a directive is part of a larger nefarious plan. This order comes on the heels of the Administration’s decision to limit the working period of HealthCare.gov and decrease open enrollment advertising by $90 million, and as the President continues to call for a partisan repeal bill. Protect Our Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement in response to the Administration’s unprecedented sabotage efforts:

“What this Administration is doing is appalling,” said Woodhouse. “President Trump and Republicans who have cheered him on and supported repeal, and now sabotage, of our health care are intentionally harming people for sheer politics. The fact that they’re carrying these actions out the day after their heinous repeal bill fell through makes it all the more shameful. These actions are disgraceful, unprecedented and will ultimately have harmful effects on the very people they purport to serve — the American people know who to hold accountable for undermining their health care.”

protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement on Trump Sabotage of Health Care and Anthem Pulling Out of Maine

Anthem Cites Uncertainty over Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments, which President Trump Has Threatened to Cancel, Among other Reasons, in Decision to Leave Market

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, one day after the failure of GOP’s latest iteration of a partisan repeal bill which would have thrown the country’s health care system into chaos, the effects of President Trump’s intentional sabotage of health care were once again made clear when Anthem announced it would exit Maine’s individual insurance market next year. Why?

“‘A stable insurance market is dependent on products that create value for consumers through the broad spreading of risk and a known set of conditions upon which rates can be developed,’ said Anthem spokesman Colin Manning in a statement. ‘Today, planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance, including the restoration of the health insurance tax on fully insured coverage and continued uncertainty around the future of cost sharing reduction subsidies.’”

As the Portland Press-Herald noted, however, actions taken by Congress — like the payment of cost-sharing reductions — could potentially bring Anthem back into the marketplace:

“Manning did not close the door on returning to the Maine marketplace if conditions stabilized. There are proposals in Congress to mandate that the cost-sharing reduction funding be paid to insurers, and other measures to stabilize the marketplace. ‘Our commitment to members has always been to provide greater access to affordable, quality healthcare, and we will continue to advocate solutions that will stabilize the market. As the marketplace continues to evolve and adjust to changing regulatory requirements and marketplace conditions, we will reevaluate whether a more robust presence in the exchange is appropriate in the future.’”

In response, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:

“Anthem’s decision to pull out of Maine is the direct consequence of uncertainty created in the marketplace by Republicans pushing for partisan repeal of our health care and President Trump’s intentional efforts to sabotage the law,” said Woodhouse. “President Trump has been playing politics with cost-sharing reduction payments by continually threatening to cancel them even though they lower out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans. This uncertainty has led to decisions like Anthem’s.

“President Trump and Republicans who have cheered him on and supported repeal are intentionally harming people’s health care for sheer politics. The American people know this and they will hold them accountable for undermining the health care of the American people. Instead of sabotaging America’s health care, Republicans should follow the example of Senator Susan Collins, who has called for Democrats and Republicans to work together to improve health care for the American people.”

protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement On Latest Failure of Health Care Repeal

Facing opposition from every health care organization, bipartisan opposition in the Senate and overwhelming opposition from the American people, Senate Republicans abandoned their latest health care repeal scheme today, known as Graham-Cassidy-Heller. This is at least the fifth attempt in 2017 at health care repeal by Republicans in Congress without any bipartisan or public support. Every version of health care repeal would have raised premiums, resulted in millions of people without coverage, allowed insurance companies to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, re-implement lifetime limits and charge an age tax, and ended Medicaid as we know it.

In response, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:

“None of these health care repeal bills were ever about health care, they were about political wins for the Republican Congress and President Trump,” Woodhouse said. “No matter how hard they try to repeal our health care, the American people keep winning. Make no mistake, though, too many Republicans in Congress refuse to move on and are already promising to revive zombie repeal. The American people must remain vigilant.

“It’s past time for Republicans to abandon partisan repeal, stand up to President Trump’s sabotage of our health care system and work across party lines to improve our health care system. Senators Alexander and Murray had started that important work and it’s the path we need to take now.

“The Trump Administration and Republican leaders face a fork in the road — will they continue to be the party of partisan health care repeal and sabotage? Everyone is watching.”

protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement After Another Awful Day for Graham-Cassidy

Today was perhaps the worst day yet for Graham-Cassidy, the GOP’s latest secret, partisan health care repeal bill which would raise costs, lower options, remove protection for pre-existing conditions and end Medicaid as we know it. A new poll found just one-fifth of voters supporting the bill; CBO analysis found “millions” would lose their insurance; and Sen. Susan Collins announced her opposition to the legislation, calling it “as deeply flawed as the previous iterations.” In response, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“Today’s developments represent more major setbacks for the latest secretive, partisan effort to repeal the health care of the American people,” said Woodhouse. “A new CBS News poll this morning pegged support for the Graham-Cassidy repeal effort at a paltry 20 percent and terrible reviews of the latest draft poured in from expert voices and stakeholders across the country. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, the Congressional Budget Office released a partial analysis of the bill this afternoon which confirmed what every independent analysis has shown — that Graham-Cassidy repeal would strip millions of coverage and slash Medicaid. And to top it all off, Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she is a hard no on the bill.
 
“It should now be abundantly clear that partisan repeal is a loser both politically and substantively and that it’s time for Republicans to stop partisan repeal and return to bipartisan efforts to improve health care which were underway before Republicans pulled the plug. Until they do, the calls will continue, the ads will stay up and millions of Americans will write, email, tweet and protest until the effort to strip millions of health care and spike costs for millions more is dead, once and for all.”

protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement on Trump Administration’s Continued Health Care Sabotage

Washington, D.C. — During a webinar this afternoon, HHS announced that HealthCare.gov would be offline 5 out of the 6 Sundays during the upcoming open enrollment period. This means that during the shortest open enrollment period ever, HealthCare.gov will be down for 3 full days. Today’s announcement follows recent decisions by the administration to cut navigator funding by 40 percent and the outreach and advertising budget by 90 percent.

“This is outrageous. It’s clear that even if Republicans continue to fail to repeal the Affordable Care Act that the Trump administration will go to any lengths to sabotage the law,” said Brad Woodhouse, Campaign Director for Protect Our Care. “From destabilizing the health care market by threatening not to pay cost sharing reduction payments to undermining open enrollment, the Trump Administration will pursue every tactic to undermine health care no matter how many Americans it hurts. The American people are sick of it — they oppose repeal and they will hold President Trump and Republicans in Congress accountable for sabotaging their health care.”


protectourcare
In Statement

Protect Our Care Statement on Sen. John McCain’s Announcement in Opposition to Graham-Cassidy

“Senator McCain established a test which all Senators should follow on health care: reforms to an issue of this importance and magnitude should be addressed on a bipartisan basis and should follow regular Senate procedure including hearings and expert witnesses. Graham-Cassidy fails this test in every regard, and Senator McCain is right to oppose this latest effort at partisan repeal,” said Brad Woodhouse, Campaign Director for Protect Our Care.

“But beyond process, Senators should oppose this latest repeal effort because it would devastate our health care system. Graham-Cassidy has been called radical and the worst of all repeal bills, and rightly so. It would deny coverage to 32 million Americans, end Medicaid expansion, undermine traditional Medicaid, impose an age tax on seniors and end protections against discrimination for people with pre-existing conditions. Graham-Cassidy is bad on process as Senator McCain has rightly noted, but it would be a dumpster fire for the American health care system. It’s time for Senator Mitch McConnell to set this partisan bill aside and allow bipartisan efforts to stabilize our health care system to move forward.”

protectourcare
In News

12 Facts You Need To Know About The Latest GOP Health Care Repeal (Graham-Cassidy)

  1. MASSIVE STATE BY STATE FUNDING CUTS. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report showing in 2027, every state in the nation would see federal funding cuts under Graham-Cassidy, totaling nearly $300 billion.
  2. NO FULL CBO SCORE. The Congressional Budget Office announced it would not be able to produce a complete analysis on Graham-Cassidy that includes the impact on deficits, how many will lose coverage or the increase in premiums by September 30. Senator Bill Cassidy admitted, “I just don’t care about the coverage numbers.”
  3. PRE-EXISTING CONDITION PREMIUM HIKES. The Center for American Progress released a report showing how much more people with pre-existing conditions would pay each year under Graham-Cassidy. For example, an individual with asthma would face a premium surcharge of $4,340. The surcharge for pregnancy would be $17,320 and $142,650 more for patients with metastatic cancer.
  4. WORSE THAN BEFORE. Fitch Rating Agency found that this bill was “more disruptive for most states than prior Republican efforts.” The Washington Post found this bill is worse than previous health care repeal bills, writing “”The latest Obamacare overhaul bill gaining steam on Capitol Hill slashes health-care spending more deeply and would likely cover fewer people than a July bill that failed precisely because of such concerns.”
  5. MORE UNINSURED VETS. Rand Corp study showing Republican repeal efforts would increase the number of uninsured veterans. The report showed that the ACA’s Medicaid expansion had increased coverage for low-income veterans who lived further from VA facilities. The report found that the ACA was responsible for reducing the uninsured rate of veterans by about one-third, from 9.1% to 5.8%, in 2015.
  6. MORE UNINSURED CHILDREN. The Center for American Progress released an analysis showing that children are at immediate risk of losing coverage in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Utah with CHIP funding running out quickly.
  7. KEY STAKEHOLDERS OPPOSE. The AARP, AMA, six leading physician groups, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and 15 more high-profile patient groups and Children’s Hospital Association — who are all unified in opposing the Republican repeal bill.
  8. GOP GOVERNORS OPPOSE. Republican Governors from Alaska, Ohio, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have come out against the plan.
  9. FAILS THE MCCAIN TEST. The NYT’s David Leonhardt’s column, “John McCain Faces a New Test of His Principles.”
  10. RAND PAUL IS A ‘NO.’ GOP Senator Rand Paul opposes Graham-Cassidy, writing in an op-ed, “In all ways, this bill is also ObamaCare Lite. In no way is it repeal the way we promised. I will oppose this bill as I did the other fake repeal bills, and I urge those who want repeal to do so, as well.”
  11. INCLUDES THE AGE TAX. This repeal bill still lets insurance companies charge up to 5 times more for people over 50, what AARP has dubbed an “Age Tax.”
  12. NO GUARANTEE IN THE HOUSE. Because this repeal bill is worse than previous ones, the Washington Post reports, “Would the House pass Graham-Cassidy? It’s not a slam dunk.”

Stories of Note

  • Washington Post: “The new GOP health-care measure goes further than the failed one”
  • New York Times: “John McCain Faces a New Test of His Principles”
  • Washington Post: “Moderates would have to swallow deep Medicaid cuts for GOP health-care push to succeed”
  • VOX: “How Cassidy-Graham brings back preexisting conditions”
  • POLITICO: “Obamacare repeal plan won’t get full CBO analysis by key deadline”
  • Axios: “What’s missing from Graham-Cassidy”
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