Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/opinion/no-wonder-the-republicans-hid-the-health-bill.htmlNew York Times wrote:
No Wonder the Repubicans Hid the Health Bill
March 7, 2017
Republican House leaders have spent months dodging questions about how they would replace the Affordable Care Act with a better law, and went so far as to hide the draft of their plan from other lawmakers. No wonder. The bill they released on Monday would kick millions of people off the coverage they currently have. So much for President Trump’s big campaign promise: “We’re going to have insurance for everybody” — with coverage that would be “much less expensive and much better.”
More than 20 million Americans gained health care coverage under the A.C.A., or Obamacare. Health experts say most would lose that coverage under the proposal.
Let’s start with Medicaid. Obamacare expanded the program to cover 11 million more poor Americans in 31 states and the District of Columbia. The Republican bill would end the expansion in 2020. Although people who sign up before 2020 under the expanded Medicaid program, which covers people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (about $33,900 for a family of four), would be allowed to stay on, many would be kicked off over time. The working poor tend to drop in and out of Medicaid because their incomes fluctuate, and the Republican plan would bar people who left the expanded program from going back in.
The bill would also, for the first time ever, apply a per-person limit on how much the federal government spends on Medicaid. This change could shift about $370 billion in health care costs over 10 years to state governments, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Many state governments, faced with limited budgets, would be forced to cut benefits or cover fewer people.
For people who buy insurance on federal or state-run health exchanges [under the Affordable Care Act, or A.C.A.], the G.O.P. plan would greatly reduce the A.C.A.’s subsidies, which come in the form of tax credits. For example, a 40-year-old living in Raleigh, N.C., who earns $30,000 a year would receive $3,000 from the government to buy insurance, 32 percent less than under current law, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The bill would provide older people more generous subsidies — those over 60 get a subsidy of $4,000, or twice as much as 20-somethings — but insurers would be allowed to charge older people five times as much as younger people.
The plan would do away with the current mandate that requires nearly everybody to obtain insurance or pay a penalty. (Instead, insurers would be allowed to charge people who don’t maintain their insurance continuously 30 percent more for coverage.)
[. . . ]
. . . insurers would almost certainly raise their prices as the pool of the insured shrank.
While working people lose health care, the rich would come out winners. The bill would eliminate the taxes on businesses and individuals (people making more than $200,000 a year) who fund Obamacare. The tax cuts would total about $600 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/womens-health-services-face-cuts-republican-bill-46036836ABC News wrote:
House GOP health bill would cut women's services
March 10, 2017
Women seeking abortions and some basic health services, including prenatal care, contraception and cancer screenings, would face restrictions and struggle to pay for some of that medical care under the House Republicans' proposed bill.
The legislation, which would replace much of former President Barack Obama's health law, was approved by two House committees on Thursday. Republicans are hoping to move quickly to pass it, despite unified opposition from Democrats, criticism from some conservatives who don't think it goes far enough and several health groups who fear millions of Americans would lose coverage and benefits.
The bill would prohibit for a year any funding to Planned Parenthood, a major provider of women's health services, restrict abortion access in covered plans on the health exchange and scale back Medicaid services used by many low-income women, among other changes.
[. . .]
The abortion restrictions and cuts to women's health care could draw opposition from some Republican women.
. . . [Once the House passes the bill and the bill moves to the Senate], the GOP will need 50 votes to pass it.
A look at how the bill would affect women's health care:
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
. . . Now that Republican Donald Trump is president, they [Republicans] are adding the one-year freeze in funding [to Planned Parenthood] to their bill.
Federal dollars comprise nearly half of the group's [Planned Parenthood's] annual billion-dollar budget. Government dollars don't pay for abortions, but the organization is reimbursed by Medicaid for other services, including birth control, cancer screenings and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. The group has said the vast majority of women seek out those non-abortion services.
[. . . ]
ABORTION COVERAGE
Under Obama's health law, health plans on the exchange can cover elective abortions, but they must collect a separate premium to pay for them so it's clear that no federal funds are used. The GOP bill would go further, prohibiting the use of new federal tax credits to purchase any plan that covers abortions.
That could make it more difficult for women covered under the federal exchange to find a plan that covers abortions at all, because many companies may just drop the abortion coverage if it disqualifies the entire plan from the tax credits.
Source: https://content.sierraclub.org/grassrootsnetwork/team-news/2017/03/please-contact-your-representative-and-say-no-gop-bill-repear-affordable-care-actSierra Club wrote:
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND SAY NO TO THE GOP BILL TO REPEAL THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Wednesday March 8, 2017
I received this from Kirsten Gillibrand and hope that all will contact their representative in Congress. 3121
From Kirsten Gillibrand [U.S. Senator]
I wanted to send you a quick note about the GOP's new Trump-approved health care bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It’s bad. Really bad. This plan will make health care more expensive for families and seniors and leave millions of people uninsured – all while giving huge tax breaks to insurance companies and the highest wage earners.
Here are the top points you need to know about the Trump plan:
1.It allows health insurance companies to charge older Americans up to five times more.
2.It repeals the employer mandate, causing many families covered by their employers to lose coverage.
3.It will take insurance away from millions of individuals and cripple state budgets by phasing out the Medicaid expansion.
4.It gives health insurance companies a tax break for CEO pay over $500,000.
5.It defunds Planned Parenthood, leaving millions without access to breast exams, birth control and pap smears. We need to fight this terrible plan with everything we’ve got, because the stakes are literally life and death for millions of Americans.
Here are a few ways you can speak out: -Call your representative in Congress. You can dial the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. -Tell your friends to call their representatives in Congress. -Show up at your representative’s town halls. -Spread the word about this plan on Facebook and other social media. We’ve seen this year that when regular people show up and demand action, we can get results. Click here to find your representative in Congress, then take three minutes to call and ask them to oppose this bill. Your voice is needed for a time such as this. Be heard.
Last edited by Poppy on Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:34 pm; edited 1 time in total