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General News You Want to Talk About - Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:07 am

Sorry, Jeremy, I'm not sure what the latest research says about vacation time. 



A couple more articles about the dangerous Graham-Cassidy repeal-and-replace "healthcare bill":

The Washington Post wrote:
New health-care plan stumbles under opposition from governors


Senate Republicans are trying to revive the momentum to overhaul the Affordable Care Act with the Graham-Cassidy proposal. Here's a rundown of the plan, and the rush to pass it. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

September 19, 2017

Senate Republicans and the White House pressed ahead Tuesday with their suddenly resurgent effort to undo the Affordable Care, even as their attempt was dealt a setback when a bipartisan group of [10] governors came out against their proposal.

[. . .]

“We ask you not to consider the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson amendment and renew support for bipartisan efforts to make health care more available and affordable for all Americans,” the governors said in their letter.

[. . .]

The current bill would give states control over billions in federal health-care spending and enact deep cuts to Medicaid. The Medicaid cuts are a major source of concern to the governors, both in terms of imposing a per capita cap on what states would receive as well as putting restrictions on how they could spend any federal aid on their expanded Medicaid populations.

The fact that the bill also would bar states from taxing health-care providers to fund their Medicaid programs posed a problem for several governors, as well.

[. . .]
Given the complex nature of the Graham-Cassidy proposal, it is difficult for both state officials and health-care analysts to predict exactly how much money a given state would gain or lose if it were enacted. But early estimates suggest that states with expanded Medicaid programs and active participation on the ACA market could face major cuts.

[. . .]
Also among the governors signing the letter: John Kasich (R-Ohio) and Brian Sandoval (R-Nev.). Sandoval’s positioning puts him at odds with [Senator} Heller, who has been touting the bill as a co-sponsor.

Link to Washington Post article:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/renewed-obamacare-repeal-effort-dealt-a-blow-as-governors-come-out-in-opposition/2017/09/19/499478fe-9d51-11e7-9083-fbfddf6804c2_story.html?utm_term=.cefc6bc9c12e

Link to Letter from bipartisan group of governors:  https://www.colorado.gov/governor/sites/default/files/bipartisan_governors_letter_re_graham-cassidy_9-19-17.pdf



Note:
The video in the Washington Post article further makes these points:
The Washington Post video wrote:
--It  [the Graham-Cassidy bill] would reshape the ACA by giving states near-total control over federal healthcare dollars.

--Subsidies for marketplaces [health care plans] and expanded Medicaid programs will end in 2027.

--It lets states get waivers [in order] to axe regulations protecting those with preexisting conditions.

--The bill cuts federal health-care spending more than the failed [Republican-drafted] Better Care Reconciliation Act.

--The spending cuts would hit states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA the hardest [note the visual aid in the video showing a map of the U.S. with 31 states in yellow representing those states that would be hit the hardest, including Washington state, Oregon, Nevada, California, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico,  Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania,  New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington DC].

--The Congressional Budget Office [CBO] won’t have a full estimate of its impact before September 30 [before the vote].









New York Magazine wrote:
4 Ways Graham-Cassidy Would Make the Health-Care System Far Worse

September 19, 2017

As with previous versions of Trumpcare, the legislation crafted by senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy faces two challenges: an absurdly short deadline — due to Senate procedure, they must act by September 30 — and resistance within the GOP to passing a bill that would impact one-sixth of the economy in unknown and likely devastating ways.

. . . On top of all the draconian features of the previous bills, Graham-Cassidy shifts the burden of crafting a health care system onto the states, and makes them do it with far less money.

Here’s a look at what the legislation will do to the U.S. health-care system, if Senate Republicans can pick up another vote or two by next week.


Cut Protections for People With Preexisting Conditions


Under Graham-Cassidy, insurers could not refuse to cover someone because of a preexisting condition, but they would be able to make coverage so exorbitantly expensive that sick people couldn’t afford it.
 

[size=13]Oh, #WeReadIt. Section 106 allows states to waive underwriting req's. Insurers could charge through the roof for preexisting conditions. pic.twitter.com/SO1x1dZFqQ— AARP Advocates (@AARPadvocates) September 18, 2017[/size]


First, insurance companies could charge people higher premiums based on their health status. The Center for American Progress estimates that annual premiums would be tens of thousands of dollars higher for a 40-year-old with various medical conditions than for a completely health person:

Topics tagged under wereadit on Darren Criss Fan Community 19-premium-surcharges.nocrop.w710.h2147483647

. . . The bill also allows states to waive Obamacare’s essential health benefits, which require insurance plans to cover basics like hospitalizations, maternity care, and laboratory tests.
 
Conservatives like this because it would give people the freedom to buy skimpy health plans for dirt cheap, if that’s all they’re interested in. That would reduce costs for young and healthy people, but make comprehensive plans exorbitantly expensive since only sicker, older people would seek them out. (Like previous GOP health plans, insurers would be allowed to charge older people five times as much as younger people, while the currently limit is three times as much.)

. . .  Republicans are pushing to have a vote before we get estimates of what each state would do. But as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes, several months ago, the Congressional Budget Office scored a similar GOP proposal to let states waive these Obamacare provisions. The CBO concluded:

• States accounting for one-sixth of the nation’s population would choose to let insurers charge higher premiums based on health status. In those states, “less healthy individuals (including those with preexisting or newly acquired medical conditions) would be unable to purchase comprehensive coverage with premiums close to those under current law and might not be able to purchase coverage at all [emphasis added].”
 
• States accounting for half of the nation’s population would choose to let insurers exclude essential health benefits. In those states, “services or benefits likely to be excluded … include maternity care, mental health and substance abuse benefits, rehabilitative and habilitative services, and pediatric dental benefits.” People needing these services “would face increases in their out-of-pocket costs. Some people would have increases of thousands of dollars in a year.”


Gut Federal Funding for Health Care


Like any good Obamacare repeal plan, Graham-Cassidy would eliminate both the employer and the individual mandate. (Though states are free to reinstate them if they wish.) Multiple analysts have concluded that this would make health insurance more expensive, and lead to millions fewer being covered (some by choice, and some due to the aforementioned price increase).

But Graham-Cassidy does something even more radical: eliminating federal funding for Obamacare marketplace subsidies and the Medicaid expansion, and replacing it with one block grant to the states.

[. . . ]
But Cassidy and Graham didn’t emphasize that the states will have far less money to create these new health programs. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains, between 2020 and 2026, states would receive less money via block grants than they would under Obamacare, and that gap would get worse over time:

[size=13]
The block grant would equal $140 billion in 2020, which is $26 billion, or 16 percent, below projected federal spending for the Medicaid expansion and marketplace subsidies under current law. The block grant would increase annually by roughly 2 percent, to $158 billion in 2026. That wouldn’t even keep pace with general inflation, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects to equal 2.4 percent annually over that period, let alone with expected growth in per-beneficiary health care costs and enrollment. Thus, by 2026, block grant funding under the plan would be $83 billion, or 34 percent, below currently projected federal spending on the ACA’s major coverage expansions.

This deficit wouldn’t hit states equally. The complex formula Graham-Cassidy uses to determine how much funding each state should get is designed not to “discriminate” against states that decided not to expand Medicaid. That means California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia, and D.C. are likely to receive at least 50 percent less federal health funding by 2026.
[/size]



Here's how much federal funding states would gain/lose under the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson Obamacare repeal bill https://t.co/dGcFk0B8X7 pic.twitter.com/CeLVxp7H8R

— Bob Bryan (@RobertBryan4) September 18, 2017



“I think this is a game,” said Senator Rand Paul, one of the few GOP senators openly opposing the bill. “I think this is a game of Republicans taking money from Democratic states. What happens if Democrats take power back?”

If Graham-Cassidy were to remain in place, everything should even out in 2027, when the block grants disappear altogether. . .

Cut Medicaid Even Further


Graham-Cassidy would do even more to destroy Medicaid, fulfilling a longtime Republican dream. It includes a feature from the Senate’s previous version of Trumpcare: a per capita cap on federal funding for Medicaid. While the federal government currently pays a percentage of a state’s Medicaid costs, starting in 2020 it would pay a fixed amount for each Medicaid enrollee, regardless of what it actually costs to cover them.

. . . . According to previous CBO estimates, non-expansion Medicaid funding would see a reduction of $39 billion, or 8 percent, by 2026.

Leave Millions Uninsured


The CBO score could prove fatal to Graham-Cassidy, as a handful of Republican senators killed previous efforts to repeal Obamacare over massive projected coverage losses.

The GOP’s plan to ram Graham-Cassidy through the Senate in the next two weeks could actually save it, since the CBO announced on Monday that it will not have time “to provide point estimates of the effects on the deficit, health insurance coverage, or premiums for at least several weeks.”
Presumably, Graham-Cassidy will be very difficult to score, since instead of creating a single Obamacare replacement, it could lead to a patchwork of 50 wildly different health-care systems. But we do know that the CBO previously estimated that a straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act would leave 32 million people uninsured and double premiums over the next decade. Compared to previous versions of Trumpcare, Graham-Cassidy gives states an even greater ability to cut preexisting-condition protections and tear apart Medicaid — plus it’s coupled with drastic cuts that set up a dramatic congressional showdown a decade from now. So, presumably, the new projections will be even worse. 


[size=13]Link to New York Magazine Article: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/09/4-ways-graham-cassidy-would-make-health-care-worse.html[/size]


Of the various versions of the Republicans' repeal and replace bills, this is the worst version (with the repeal-only/no replacement-bill being the very worst)!   And because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will not have sufficient time to fully score this bill before the vote, we don't know for sure how many people will lose health coverage if this bill becomes the law of the land.


PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE REPUBLICAN, AND TELL THEM TO VOTE [size=16]NO ON THE GRAHAM-CASSIDY REPEAL-AND--REPLACE BILL!!   PLEASE DO NOT WAIT!  IT'S UNCLEAR WHEN EXACTLY THE VOTE WILL BE, BUT IT MOST LIKELY WILL BE SOMETIME NEXT WEEK, DEFINITELY BEFORE SEPTEMBER 30!
[/size]

Here are some reasons why you want your Senator to vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy repeal and replace bill:




 - - It will cut Medicaid for seniors, people with disabilities, and kids -- and it will end Medicaid expansion coverage for millions of low-income Americans.

- - It will take health care away from millions of people.

- - It will get rid of requiring coverage for pre-existing conditions, and make it so expensive to get coverage for pre-existing conditions, that it would become unaffordable for millions of people.

- - It will raise individual market premiums

- - It will eliminate health funding for ACA marketplace insurance plans AND for Medicaid programs in 2027.

- - Insurers would no longer have to provide for “essential services” (such as Emergency services, Hospitalization, prescription drugs, pregnancy/maternity/newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder services, rehabilitative services and devices, laboratory services, preventative services, pediatric dental benefits, and birth control coverage)

- - Insurers can allow lifetime limits on benefits (something that will be devastating to premature babies, or babies like Jimmy Kimmel’s son who are born with serious health issues).

--[size=13] Insurers would be allowed to charge older people five times as much as younger people[/size]


- - It will slash funding for Planned Parenthood.

- - There will not be a full CBO analysis, due to the lack of time before the vote



For contact info of your Senators, go here:  https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm



You can find your House of Representative’s number  by calling the Capitol's switchboard at 202-224-3121.



You also may find your House of Representative's phone number by going here: 
https://www.house.gov/representatives/





Indivisible's Trumpcare Toolkit will connect you by phone, with some ('moderate") Republican Senators, whose votes are key.  Just open this link:   [size=13]https://trumpcaretoolkit.org/  
[/size]


If you live in these states (see below), it is especially important that you please call these Senators NOW and tell them to vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy repeal-and-replace healthcare bill!  

John McCain (Arizona(202) 224-2235

Jeff Flake (Arizona) 202-224-4521
[size=13][b]Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)  (202) 224-6665
Dan Sullivan (Alaska)  (202) 224-3004
[/b][/size]
[size=13]Susan Collins (Maine) (202) 224-2523
[/size]
[size=13]Shelly Moore Capito (WV) 202-224-6472
[/size]
Dean Heller (Nev.)  202-224-6244
Rob Portman (Ohio)  (202) 224-3353
Bill Cassidy (La.)  (202) 224-5824
John Kennedy (LA)  (202) 224-4623
Bob Corker (TN)  (202) 224-3344
Lamar Alexander (TN)  (202) 224-4944
Cory Gardner (CO)  (202) 224-5941
Richard Shelby (AL)  (202) 224-5744
Luther Stranger (AL)  (202) 224-4124
Pat Toomey (PA)  (202) 224-4254
Ron Johnson (WI)  (202) 224-5323
Jerry Moran (Kansas)  (202) 224-6521
Mike Rounds (SD)  (202) 224-5842
John Hoeven (SD)   (202) 224-2551
Joni Ernst (IA)  (202) 224-3254
Thom Tillis (NC)   (202) 224-6342
Tom Cotton (AR)  (202) 224-2353




This repeal-and-replace bill will affect millions.  It will affect low-income children and adults, those with disabilities and pre-existing conditions, and the elderly.  It will hit hard nursing homes and rural hospitals.  It will affect those on Medicaid, as well as those with private insurance.  It will raise premiums.  It will cause millions to lose their health insurance.  It will make it difficult to get affordable health care coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.  It may affect you and your family, your children, your elderly parents, your friends, your co-workers, and your neighbors. 


Please DO NOT WAIT (the vote will occur before September 30), and call your Republican Senator EVERY DAY and tell them you want them to vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy repeal and replace bill!!




Jimmy Kimmel summarizes the issues well:


September 19, 2017


This was posted by Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year:

May 1, 2017
Search in: General News You Want to Talk About  Topic: General News You Want to Talk About  Replies: 274  Views: 11815

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