Fitzpatrick will not support ACA replacement bill

Through January, about 242,000 people had bought insurance on the state’s exchange, a little less than two-thirds received a subsidy and the federal government’s total cost was about $400 million. Under those instructions, the bill has to produce at least $2 billion in deficit reduction in the first 10 years. “That’s not going to happen with us”. Insurance companies could once again treat pregnancy as a pre-existing condition and refuse to cover numerous associated expenses.

Steve Daines for pushing congressional leaders to keep the medical-care benefits for asbestos patients that were put in effect in 2011 as part of the Affordable Care Act.

More dire estimates indicate that a full repeal will cost almost 24 million people their coverage. Christopher Ruddy, a conservative and a longtime friend of President Trump, suggested in Newsmax this week that an “upgraded Medicaid” should become the nation’s “blanket insurer for the uninsured”. Republicans can’t afford to lose more than 21 votes in the House, Philly.com reported, as Democrats are united against the repeal of the heath care often referred to as “ObamaCare”. But the penalty isn’t stiff enough because more and more young and healthy people are choosing to take the penalty rather than pay for expensive health insurance they don’t need.

Prior to Obamacare I had the unfortunate need to take a loved one to the emergency room of various local hospitals.

Economist Gail Wilensky sees a middle way between supporters and detractors of the bill’s treatment of Medicaid.

“The Medicaid program is complex and different (beneficiary) populations have different needs”, said Trish Riley, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy, which advises state policymakers.

Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, a rural community doctor who represents northeast and central Louisiana, also embraces the Medicaid changes. The state match is determined by their per capita income. He praised the Republican plan for its cost savings, but acknowledged it will change significantly during the legislative process. The health care bill now being drafted by the House, and enthusiastically endorsed by the president, makes major cuts in Medicaid, the joint federal/state program that protects the most vulnerable Americans. By eliminating the Medicaid expansion and cutting current subsidies, the new bill jeopardizes the health care of millions of individuals whose lives are already a struggle. It would wipe out 13.5 percent of the federal education budget alone-including after-school and summer programs that provide children living in poverty with a safe, enriching place to be and, sometimes, their only meal of the day.

Meanwhile, GOP senators and governors are pressing for elimination or changes in the bill’s phase-out of enhanced federal funding for the ACA’s Medicaid expansion to low-income adults. Wilensky calls it the “unsung hero” of Obamacare. How is that helping our state when we have one of the highest death rates for opioid overdoses in the country?

IL now devotes $10 billion in state funds each year to Medicaid, or about one-quarter of the state’s general fund.

It’s a gradual approach, with additional options for states.

At the same time the bill that has been introduced in the US House of Representative does not bring down the premiums, he said. We believe health care must be patient focused, market-driven, competitive, and affordable. Republican Dave Brat said he will oppose it. He also says some changes have been made to the bill.

That redesign is estimated to come with deep spending cuts. This has stifled full-time job growth while increasing the number of part-time workers. Congress needs to provide states the flexibility to address their most pressing issues.

But Trump’s goal does not seem to be “repeal and replace”. Of the more than 20 million people who have gained coverage through the ACA, about half are covered under expanded Medicaid programs.

Republican leaders are still trying to shore up support. Whether they will adjust their position on Medicaid is not clear.

But the point is that many Republicans have deceptively refrained from being forthright about whether they support the specific policy outcomes those priorities would produce, particularly in the short term.

“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid”, Trump tweeted a couple of months before entering the 2016 race.