Let us all have good health care

Passing a repeal and replacement of Obamacare remains the first major legislative test for Trump, a president who never held elected office before January, but his Capitol Hill allies say can close this deal.

The discussion is having ripple effects in New Jersey, where almost 1 million residents gained insurance under former President Barack Obama’s signature bill and where Democratic and Republican candidates to succeed Republican Gov. Chris Christie have begun to tackle the issue.

That’s an important distinction, because that’s how health care is being presented.

Howard now has insurance she bought on the insurance exchange through the Affordable Care Act, but she worries that she won’t be able to afford it under the House Republicans’ plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Helen Schaub is Vice President for Policy and Legislation, 1199SEIU: “We are very very concerned about the proposals in Washington which would end the federal commitment to funding Medicaid, end it as an entitlement after 50 years and turn it into what they’re calling a ‘per capita cap, ‘ limiting the federal spending”. These include work requirements for able-bodied, childless Medicaid recipients, said Representative Mark Walker, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest House conservative group. Under the ACA, subsidies are adjusted based on the customer’s income and the cost of a plan.

Although the current health-care system is far from flawless, Polacheck said, this plan – which could get a vote as early as next week – would make health care less secure and less affordable.

Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski is calling for a Medicare-style, universal coverage system in New Jersey.

Do nothing to lower drug costs.

This legislation, which has been closely coordinated with the Trump administration, will increase access to affordable, flexible health care plans. So he instead called for tweaking the ACA by requiring participation in accountable care organizations.

However, it’s still unclear whether Republicans would have enough support to pass the legislation.

Many GOP members who retained or took office riding the wave of opposition to the ACA are thinking twice about their support for changes which many of their constituents are beginning to see as threatening to a safety net which they have grown to like.

To the new bill’s architects I’d say: freedom, individual liberty and individualism are great American concepts, but when applied to the health insurance market only mean one thing – more Americans will become sick, dying and/or bankrupt. To be sure, there are many individuals and families who have seen significant rises in their insurance costs since the ACA was implemented in their states. They did not discuss making tax credits more generous, said Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), who attended the meeting.

For them health care choice was never an option for individual American citizens – it was one-size fits all. Many lower-income Americans – including elderly Americans in nursing homes, the working poor (many of them in families led by single working mothers), the unemployed and many under-employed veterans – will lose their health care coverage. But beginning in 2020, reductions in Medicaid will be significant, with total federal Medicaid spending being an estimated $880 billion lower under the AHCA than now forecasted under the ACA between 2017-2026. And New Jersey should focus on lowering costs.

“Last legislative session there were cuts to pediatric therapies for kids with disabilities enrolled in Medicaid”, she says.