Administration Archives — Page 22 of 34

Health Insurance Experts Confirm Rate Hikes Driven By Sabotage

New estimates from the health insurance industry trade group and other expert organizations are making it clear that Republican sabotage is dramatically increasing the premiums everyday Americans will be paying for health coverage in 2019. In a report that should shock every person struggling to afford health care, the health insurance companies expect rate hikes of up to 15.7% specifically because of Republican actions to undermine and sabotage the health care system.

AHIP: Factors Influencing 2019 Premiums in the Individual Market [5/25]

Short-term plan regulation: “Proposed rule would likely increase premiums in the individual market by 1.7% in the near-term and up to 6.6% once these changes are fully implemented.”
Association Health Plan regulation: “Could increase premiums in the individual market by up to 4 percent.”
Tax bill: “Elimination of the individual mandate will increase premiums in 2019 … Recent regulatory guidance by the Administration expanded the list of hardship exemptions to the mandate for 2018, which could inject further uncertainty in the market ahead of 2019.”

AHIP, May 2018

Congressional Budget Office: Federal Subsidies for Health Insurance Coverage for People Under Age 65: 2018 to 2028 [5/23]

Significant hikes projected: Premiums for benchmark plans are expected to increase by 15 percent next year, and 7 percent per year between 2019 and 2028.
Republican sabotage to blame: CBO says these coverage losses and premium increases will happen “mainly because the penalty associated with the individual mandate will be eliminated and premiums in the nongroup market will be higher.”

CBO, May 2018

Center for American Progress: State-by-State Estimated Premium Increases due to Individual Mandate Repeal and Short-Term Plan Rule [5/18]

Four-figure rate hikes: “Estimated premium increases due to these acts of marketplace sabotage average $1,013 nationally for benchmark premiums for a 40-year-old individual.”
Cumulative sabotage impact: “After all, through previous acts of marketplace sabotage, the Trump administration has already unnecessarily driven up 2018 premiums for ACA-compliant coverage. For example, last year, CAP estimated that the Trump administration’s decisions to cancel cost-sharing reduction payments and to undermine enforcement of the individual mandate would increase average benchmark premiums for a 40-year-old by $1,061.”

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This Week in the War on Health Care

While foreign policy again dominated the headlines, Republicans continued their unprecedented assault on the American health care system. Here’s what happened this week in the war on health care, plus six new polls underscoring opposition to the GOP health care agenda and a speech not to miss:

CBO CONFIRMS: GOP SABOTAGE IS RAISING COSTS, REDUCING COVERAGE

Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report detailing the higher costs Americans are facing due to the GOP’s repeal and sabotage campaign. It found that premiums will be going up double-digits and 5 million more Americans than originally anticipated will lose health insurance, and these negative consequences are happening because of Republicans’ actions:

Washington Post: “The reality is Republicans leading both chambers and the White House have acted in ways that could trigger the rise of premiums.”

CNN: “Congress eliminated the penalty associated with Obamacare’s individual mandate as part of its tax reform package last year. This change alone will cause premiums to be 10% higher.”

CNBC: “The CBO also projects about 5 million more people under the age of 65 will be uninsured in 2027 than it estimated in September, up to a total of 35 million people.”

Axios: “Insurance premiums tend to go up every year, but the magnitude of these increases stems largely from the repeal of the ACA’s individual mandate, the expansion of skimpy short-term plans, and the decision last year to cut off the law’s cost-sharing payments.”

Bloomberg: “One reason for the rising premiums is the actions of President Donald Trump.”

RIGHT-WING GROUPS’ BIG NEW IDEA ON HEALTH REPEAL: LET’S KEEP DIGGING

This week, four right-wing groups urged Congressional Republicans to revive Graham-Cassidy, the GOP’s worst repeal bill. These right-wing groups are counting on Republicans to ignore the will of the American people and amp up attacks on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. This time, they want an even more destructive bill – one that would slash Medicaid, repeal expansion, and decimate the insurance markets, all while giving insurance and pharmaceutical companies even bigger tax breaks.

It’s time for Jim DeMint and his cronies to get another hobby and give up their obsession with taking away our care.

TRUMP PUTS ADMINISTRATION BETWEEN WOMEN AND THEIR DOCTORS

This week, the Trump Administration dramatically accelerated its attacks on women’s care with new regulations released ahead of the President’s speech at an anti-women’s-health gala. This rule puts Donald Trump between women and their doctors and signals a new phase in the Republican war on women’s health. By banning providers from giving women all the facts about their options and restricting them from getting any services at all from Planned Parenthood and other essential community health providers, this rule is designed to threaten women’s health and restrict access to care.

The Trump Administration continues to pursue a radical anti-women’s health agenda, but this week’s proposal will only strengthen the resolve of the millions of women who have been marching against these attacks since Day One.

FAR FROM FACTUAL: SEN. ALEXANDER LIES, AGAIN

On Tuesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) published a comicaly-inaccurate letter to the editor in a last-ditch attempt to duck responsibility for the pain he’s causing American families, the latest example of the Senator’s misleading the public about health care. What did he lie about?

LIE 1: That efforts to stabilize health care markets failed because of Democrats. Republican poison pills on reproductive rights are what killed those efforts – full stop. Democrats continue to make overtures to Alexander on stabilization, but in a letter to lobbyists, he unilaterally declared he was walking away from the negotiating table.

LIE 2: That repealing the Affordable Care Act would have made matters better for anyone. In fact, millions of Americans would have lost their coverage, millions more with pre-existing conditions would have faced discrimination from insurance companies, and premiums would have soared.

LIE 3: That he is a moderate, reasonable, or thoughtful voice on health care. Sen. Alexander’s first priority is always repeal, making him no different from far-right Republicans like the Freedom Caucus or the Koch Brothers.

After this spring’s stabilization farce, Sen. Alexander has spent his last shreds of bipartisan credibility, and his letter indicates people in Tennessee are finally noticing.

TRUMP DRUG ‘PLAN’ COULD PUNISH SENIORS WITH CANCER

Also this week, new research from Avalere and a CBS News investigation exposed the dangers seniors with cancer could face under the Trump Administration’s drug pricing blueprint.

In the simplest terms, this Administration has no answers on how its proposed changes to Medicare would protect seniors from prohibitively high out-of-pocket costs for specialized cancer treatment, and these findings are more proof the Trump Administration’s drug pricing ‘plan’ is a day late and a dollar short. Americans are already worried enough about rising health care costs – the Trump Administration adding to that list by finding new ways to make care more expensive is absurd. In fact…

BATTLEGROUND POLLS FIND VOTERS BLAME REPUBLICANS FOR PREMIUM HIKES

Six new Public Policy Polling surveys in battleground states found that voters are not only blaming Republicans for the expected health care premium increases this summer by 30 points, but they also believe Republicans and President Trump are actively undermining and sabotaging the ACA.

In Arizona, 55% of voters will hold Republicans in Washington responsible if rates increase, and 49% believe Washington Republicans and President Trump have been trying to undermine and sabotage the Affordable Care Act, including 57% of independent voters.
In Indiana, 49% of voters will hold Republicans in Washington responsible if rates increase, and 48% believe Washington Republicans and President Trump have been trying to undermine and sabotage the ACA, including 48% of independent voters.
In Missouri, 59% of voters will hold Republicans in Washington responsible if rates increase, and a plurality (47%) say they believe Washington Republicans and President Trump have been trying to undermine and sabotage the ACA, including 50% of independent voters.
In Montana, 55% of voters will hold Republicans in Washington responsible if rates increase, and a plurality (47%) say they believe Washington Republicans and President Trump have been trying to undermine and sabotage the ACA, including 52% of independent voters.
In Nevada, 56% of voters will hold Republicans in Washington responsible if rates increase, and 55% say they believe Washington Republicans and President Trump have been trying to undermine and sabotage the ACA, including 59% of voters.
In Wisconsin, 59% of voters will hold Republicans in Washington responsible if rates increase, and 53% say they believe Washington Republicans and President Trump have been trying to undermine and sabotage the ACA, including 50% of independent voters.

Perhaps someone should show these polls to Jim DeMint.

SEN. MURPHY FLOOR ADDRESS CALLS OUT REPUBLICAN RATE HIKES

Yesterday, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) took to the Senate floor to once again call out the GOP’s repeal and sabotage campaign and its effects on Americans’ premiums. As Sen. Murphy said:

“CBO has told you that the repeal of the individual mandate is going to jump premiums by 10%… But because of the actions that were taken here and because of many of the actions undertaken by this Congress, we’re looking at a double-digit increase… So Senate Democrats are going to be down on the floor pretty relentlessly over the course of the next few months to make people understand that as you are getting your health insurance bills, as you are seeing these big increases, a big reason why are the actions that your elected leaders have taken, this Republican Congress and this Administration…

“As I walked across the state of Connecticut last summer, something that I’ve come to do the last few years – I take about five or six days and I walk from one side of the state to the other – health care was the dominant theme. People were waiting for me miles ahead on the road having seen news that I was in a certain town earlier in the day. They waited ahead of me for hours and hours to talk to me about their illness and about their fear that this congress and this President were going to take away their coverage.

“We were successful in defeating the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. And that’s great news because the Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever before. But this Congress and this President are trying to ruin some of the most important protections in our health care system because they’re mad that they lost the repeal vote by one vote. And so it’s important for us to tell Americans what the consequences of that sabotage campaign are. It certainly means that sick people are going to get less protection, but it also means that over the course of the next few months, as rates are filed across the country, you are going to see some devastatingly high premium increases due to the Republican campaign of health care sabotage. This week, 14% in Oregon. Last week or the week before, 91% in Maryland. 64% in Virginia. This is what happens when you strike blows at the American health care system, and it’s important for Americans to understand what’s happening. With that, Mr. President, I’d yield.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

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CBO Confirms: GOP Sabotage Is Raising Costs, Reducing Coverage

Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report detailing the higher costs Americans are facing due to the GOP’s repeal and sabotage campaign. Among its conclusions: premiums will be going up double-digits, 5 million more Americans than originally anticipated will lose health insurance, and these negative consequences are happening because of Republicans’ actions. Here are the key takeaways:

Washington Post: “The Reality Is Republicans Leading Both Chambers And The White House Have Acted In Ways That Could Trigger The Rise Of Premiums.” “The reality is Republicans leading both chambers of Congress and the White House have acted in ways that could trigger the rise of premiums. They’ve repealed the law’s individual mandate, paving the way for healthier people to leave the marketplaces and leave sicker, more expensive patients behind. They’re working to expand leaner plans exempt from ACA coverage requirements. And they haven’t found a way to pay extra subsidies in order to defray extra plan costs for the lowest-income customers.” [Washington Post, 5/24]

CNN: Individual Mandate Repeal “Alone Will Cause Premiums To Be 10% Higher.” “Congress eliminated the penalty associated with Obamacare’s individual mandate as part of its tax reform package last year. This change alone will cause premiums to be 10% higher because fewer healthy people will buy coverage, leaving insurers with a sicker and costlier group of policyholders, the CBO projected.” [CNN, 5/23]

CNBC: “The CBO Also Projects About 5 MIllion More People” Will Be Uninsured, “Up To A Total Of 35 Million People.” “The CBO also projects about 5 million more people under the age of 65 will be uninsured in 2027 than it estimated in September, up to a total of 35 million people… Trump and congressional Republicans tried unsuccessfully to repeal the landmark health law multiple times last year. They managed to repeal the individual mandate, which required most people to have some form of health insurance or pay a tax penalty, as part of the broader tax law it passed in December. The change is slated to go into effect next year. This coupled with higher premiums will cause 3 million more people than previously forecast to be uninsured next year, CBO estimates. Between 2019 and 2028, it expects the number of uninsured people to increase to 35 million.” [CNBC, 5/23]

The Hill: “ObamaCare Premiums Are Expected To Rise An Average Of 15 Percent Next Year, An Increase Largely Due To The GOP’s Repeal Of The Individual Mandate.” “ObamaCare premiums are expected to rise an average of 15 percent next year, an increase largely due to the GOP’s repeal of the law’s individual mandate, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis released Wednesday. The CBO estimates that gutting the requirement that Americans have health insurance or face a tax penalty will contribute to about a 10 percent rise in premiums for 2019, with insurers expected to see healthier people dropping out of the marketplaces, leaving sicker enrollees on the plans.” [The Hill, 5/23]

Bloomberg: “One Reason For The Rising Premiums Is The Actions Of President Donald Trump.” “One reason for the rising premiums is the actions of President Donald Trump. Last year, Trump topped funding for the cost-sharing reduction payments made to insurers under Obamacare to help Americans afford health costs. The non-payment of those subsidies, less enforcement of a rule requiring people to have insurance and limited competition caused insurers to raise their premiums by about 34 percent in 2018, compared to 2017. That increased the cost of the subsidies to the federal government, according to the CBO.” [Bloomberg, 5/23]

Axios: “The Magnitude Of These Increases Stems Largely” From Administrative Actions. “Insurance premiums tend to go up every year, but the magnitude of these increases stems largely from the repeal of the ACA’s individual mandate, the expansion of skimpy short-term plans, and the decision last year to cut off the law’s cost-sharing payments. [Axios, 5/24]

Justine Handelman, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Vice President: “It Continues To Be Uncertain Times.” “Although the administration hasn’t teed up any new policy announcements lately, senior officials from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association told reporters yesterday that there’s still reason to be nervous. It’s too late to help moderate premium hikes for 2019, they said, so they’re focused on 2020. They’re hoping new policies like the change in short-term plans won’t take effect until 2020, so that they won’t upend the market assumptions plans have made for next year.‘It continues to be uncertain times,’ said Justine Handelman, a BCBSA senior vice president.” [Axios, 5/24]

Kris Haltmeyer, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Vice President: “‘With the repeal of the individual mandate and the failure of Congress to enact stabilization legislation, we are expecting premiums to go up substantially,’ Haltmeyer said… Haltmeyer said the premium increases are ‘related to the loss of the mandate and then underlying medical costs.’ ‘Those two things have the most impact on the rate increases,’ he added.” [The Hill, 5/23]

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Trump Drug ‘Plan’ Could Punish Seniors With Cancer

Washington, D.C. – After new research from Avalere and a CBS News investigation exposed the dangers seniors with cancer could face under the Trump Administration’s drug pricing blueprint, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse said:

“The Administration has no answers on how its proposed changes to Medicare would protect seniors from prohibitively high out-of-pocket costs for specialized cancer treatment. This is more proof that the Trump Administration’s drug pricing ‘plan’ is a day late and a dollar short. Americans are already worried enough about rising health care costs; let’s not find new ways for the Trump Administration to make care more expensive.”

A tricky wrinkle in Trump’s Medicare Rx “Blueprint”

CBS News // Walecia Konrad // May 22, 2018

The Trump administration’s “Blueprint” to lower drug prices and reduce patient costs made one thing clear: The government will not directly negotiate with drug companies to secure lower prescription prices. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t proposing changes that would dramatically alter the way Medicare pays for some of the most expensive drugs, and in the process, potentially raise out-of-pocket costs for some of the country’s sickest patients.

A cornerstone of the Trump plan calls for all Medicare drug payments to be consolidated under Medicare Part D, the prescription drug plan for Medicare enrollees administered by private insurers. Under Part D, insurers and middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) negotiate with drug companies for discounted prices in exchange for the drug companies’ products being included in the PBMs’ list of covered drugs.

But drugs intravenously administered in physicians’ offices, such as chemotherapy and vaccines, are usually covered as a medical treatment under Medicare Part B. Physicians buy these drugs directly from manufacturers, and Medicare reimburses doctors for the drugs’ average sales price plus 6 percent.

Alex Azar, Health and Human Services secretary and former president of the U.S. division of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY), has been touting the move to consolidate Medicare drug payments during several public appearances since he and President Trump unveiled the Blueprint earlier this month. Azar and other proponents of the plan point out that the 6 percent markup included in Medicare Part B creates incentives for doctors to purchase more expensive drugs to get a higher dollar profit. Better, said Azar, for insurance companies and PBMs in Medicare Part D to negotiate discounts and lower prices.

Pharmaceutical companies are against the idea, partly because they generally are paid more under Part B than Part D. “Bringing negotiation to Part B drugs is such a potent way to bring down prices that PhRMA is already protesting the idea,” Azar said in a recent speech at the American Enterprise Institute in which he referred to the drug industry trade group called Pharmacuetical Research and Manufacturers.

But Azar and others have shed little light on exactly how this change would take place, leaving patients worried about the potential for astronomically higher out-of-pocket costs.

Sky-high co-pays?

“If they shift Medicare Part B medicines to Medicare Part D without making any changes in the Part D structure, it will have a horrible effect on patients,” said David Mitchell, president and founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs. Mitchell, who’is currently undergoing cancer treatment, noted that he and most cancer patients with Medicare Part B have supplemental insurance that covers out-of-pocket costs, including drug co-pays, incurred under Medicare Part B insurance.

Mitchell points to his own regimen of cancer drugs, which adds up to about $23,000 each time he visits the infusion clinic. He pays $2,100 a year for a supplemental policy that covers his Part B co-payments. Medicare Part D recipients are not eligible to buy supplemental prescription drug insurance.

If his drugs were to fall under Medicare Part D, Mitchell explained that he would quickly pay enough in out-of-pocket co-pays to fall into a category called catastrophic coverage. Once in that category, Mitchell would pay 5 percent of his drug costs, which he estimates would equal about $15,000 in a year’s time. “That’s a completely unaffordable amount,” he said.

An analysis released Monday from health care consultants Avalere Health backs up Mitchell’s point. In 2016, average out-of-pocket costs were about 33 percent higher for Part D-covered new cancer therapies than for those covered in Part B. “Medicare beneficiaries typically have lower out-of-pocket costs in Part B — especially since so many seniors carry supplemental coverage,” said Richard Kane, senior director at Avalere, in a press release. “Any proposal for shifting drugs to Part D needs to account for these differences.”

Logistical problems

“Having a doctor purchase, mix and handle the infusion of a drug is a completely different medical experience than going to the pharmacy and picking up a bottle of pills,” said Marc Samuels, founder of ADVI Health and former White House health policy adviser for President George H.W. Bush. Cancer treatments and other physician-administered drugs are complicated and personalized, often changing from week to week or even day to day depending on the patient’s reaction to the drugs.

Patients and physicians are wondering how the actual delivery of drugs would work. “I heard someone say that I’d have to go to the pharmacy to pick up my drugs then bring them to the infusion center,” Mitchell of Patients for Affordable Drugs said. “That isn’t going to work.”

What’s more, Samuels argued that the 6 percent markup that doctors receive under Medicare Part B isn’t as profitable as it may sound. Doctors purchase these expensive drugs then often have to discard them because the patient has serious side effects or needs a different drug for another reason. “The 6 percent is designed to help cover that cost,” Samuels said.

For now the Trump administration isn’t disclosing any details about how this part of its Blueprint would work. “I’m hoping,” said Mitchell, “we can work with the administration to find a way to allow negotiations to take place without harming patients.”

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New Rule Would Put Donald Trump Between Women And Their Doctors

Washington, D.C. – After the Trump Administration proposed to dramatically accelerate its attacks on women’s care, Protect Our Care Communications Director Marjorie Connolly released the following statement:

“Today’s rule would put Donald Trump between women and their doctors, and it signals a new phase in the Republican war on women’s health. By banning providers from giving women all the facts about their options and restricting them from getting any services at all from essential community health providers, including Planned Parenthood, this rule is designed to threaten women’s health care providers and restrict access to care. Courts blocked a similar proposal in the Reagan era, but now President Trump has gotten a record number of anti-choice judges confirmed, meaning this rule poses an even worse threat to women’s health than it did in the 80s. The Trump-Pence administration continues to pursue a radical anti-women’s health agenda, but today’s proposal will only strengthen the resolve of the millions of women who have been marching against these attacks since Day One.”

BACKGROUND: The Republican War on Women’s Care

Stacking Federal Courts With Anti-Choice Judges: The next generation of American women will face a growing threat posed by an increasingly anti-choice federal judiciary. Twelve of Trump’s judicial nominees were appointed to circuit courts during his first year – more than any other first-year president in American history.

Allowing States To Defund Clinics That Offer Abortion Care: Before today’s proposal, in early 2017, Trump signed a bill allowing states to withhold Title X family planning funds from health care providers that offer abortion-related care. Thirteen states used to withhold the Title X money from abortion providers before the Obama administration blocked them. (Because of the Hyde Amendment, federal funds can’t be used to pay for abortions, so the Title X money went to other health services at those clinics.) The legislation allows them to withhold the funds again and redirect them to providers that don’t offer abortion care.

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Why Oregonians’ Insurance Is Getting Even More Expensive: The Trump Administration and Washington Republicans Keep Sabotaging Health Care

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary Oregon rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential double-digit premium increases due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“For the past year and a half, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have engaged in a deliberate, aggressive campaign to undermine health care and now families in Oregon are being asked to pay the price. While insurance companies make huge profits and enjoy record tax breaks from Republicans, they are planning to charge working families even more. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable, instead of helping their friends in the insurance industry make another buck on the backs of hardworking Oregonians.”

From the Insurance Companies

Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon: “Continued Lack Of Funding For Cost Sharing Reduction Plans” And “Expected Reduction In The Size Of The Individual ACA Market” Responsible For Higher Premiums. “These rate changes are necessary due to the increasing cost of medical care, the continued lack of funding for cost sharing reduction plans, and the expected reduction in the size of the Individual ACA market.” [BCBS, 5/14]

BridgeSpan: “Expected Reduction In The Size Of The Individual Market” Driving Higher Premiums. “The main drivers of the rate change are the increasing cost of medical care and the expected reduction in the size of the individual market. This filing reflects projected claim expenses increasing around 8.3% annually.” [BridgeSpan, 5/14]

Why Oregonians’ Insurance Is Getting Even More Expensive: The Trump Administration and Washington Republicans Keep Sabotaging Health Care

While spending most of last year trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and waging a war on our health care, President Trump and Republicans in Congress have also used their control of Washington to actively undermine the Health Insurance Marketplaces every chance they get – leading insurance companies to raise premiums for 2018 and 2019 and, in some cases, forcing them out of the individual market altogether. Washington Republicans’ goal is simple: sabotage and undermine the Affordable Care Act, then blame everyone but themselves for the consequences of their actions. President Trump keeps rooting for disaster, saying that “The best thing we can do…is let Obamacare explode” and “Let it be a disaster because we can blame that on the Democrats.”

Now, initial rate filings in Oregon forecast double-digit rate hikes again this fall because of Republican sabotage.

Republicans never ended their war on our health care. After Congress failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump Administration is aggressively sabotaging our health care system and refusing to work to make coverage better and more affordable.

Experts from AARP, the Congressional Budget Office, and a wide range of other nonpartisan organizations agree that Republican actions are forcing up health care costs.
Republicans in Congress are supporting the Administration’s many actions to undermine health care, despite widespread opposition from patient and disease groups, doctors, nurses, hospitals, plus health care and consumer advocates.
The Trump Administration officials keep rewriting the rules to let big insurance companies cover fewer and fewer services while charging people more and more. The sabotage doesn’t stop there: last year the Administration fired many of the community assisters who help people enroll in health care; this year they are planning more enrollment cuts, making it even harder to sign up for coverage.
And now, Republicans are encouraging insurance companies to sell more junk plans that don’t have to cover basic care like hospitalization and prescription drugs, and that are allowed to charge people with pre-existing conditions more or even deny them coverage altogether. In Oregon, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 23 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

The Trump Administration’s sabotage will punish Americans by jacking up premiums again, compounding the damage done last year, when Republican sabotage pushed rates up by a national average of 37 percent, and 20 percent in Oregon.

The Republican tax bill’s repeal of a key Affordable Care Act provision and the Trump Administration’s junk plan proposal will increase individual market premiums in Oregon by an average 9.1 percent this fall, according to a recent Urban Institute study.
This sabotage-driven rate hike will make the damage Republicans inflicted last year through repeal attempts and sabotage even worse.
Higher premiums will mean fewer working families can afford coverage: during the first year of the Trump Administration, millions more Americans joined the ranks of the uninsured – the highest increase since Gallup started tracking the uninsured rate.

This could have been avoided: if Republicans had stopped sabotaging health care, American families wouldn’t be facing another huge increase this fall.

Even the Trump Administration has admitted that the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces had been stabilizing prior to them coming into office.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had predicted only modest rate increases if Republicans hadn’t sabotaged the markets.
Even Senate Republicans admitted this fall’s upcoming rate hikes were “avoidable,” but then they torched bipartisan stabilization talks at the last minute, prioritizing partisan politics over their last opportunity to help American families afford health care next year.

Despite Republican Sabotage, the Affordable Care Act Has Improved Oregonians’ Care.

156,105 Oregonians signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace and Medicaid expansion, Oregon’s uninsured rate fell by 8 percent between 2013 and 2016 as Oregonians have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that Oregon premiums for 2019 could rise 9.1 percent more because of the Trump Administration’s junk plan proposal and the Republican tax bill’s repeal of a key Affordable Care Act coverage incentive.
Even despite sabotage, Affordable Care Act subsidies help keep coverage affordable for 75 percent of Oregon Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $138 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income Oregonians could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

KEY QUOTES

Former HHS Secretary Tom Price: GOP Actions Responsible For Premium Increases. “President Trump’s former top health official on Tuesday said the Republican tax law would raise the cost of health insurance for some Americans because it repealed a core provision of the Affordable Care Act. Tom Price, Trump’s first secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said people buying insurance on government-run marketplaces will face higher prices because the tax law repealed the ACA’s individual mandate. The mandate had forced most Americans to have health coverage or face a financial penalty. ‘There are many, and I’m one of them, who believes that that actually will harm the pool in the exchange market, because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently that drives up the cost for other folks within that market,’ Price said at the World Health Care Conference in Washington.” [Washington Post, 5/1/18]

Cigna: Policies Advocated By The Trump Administration Causing Premium Increases. “Two of Virginia’s ObamaCare insurers are requesting significant premium hikes for 2019, according to initial filings released Friday. Both Cigna and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield cited policies advocated by the Trump administration, including the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate, as part of its justifications for the increases. Cigna is proposing an average premium increase of 15 percent for its 103,264 customers in Virginia, with a range of increases from 6.4 percent to 40 percent. CareFirst is proposing a 64 percent increase for its approximately 4,500 customers in the commonwealth, citing an increase in sicker people entering the marketplace.” [The Hill, 5/4/18]

Commonwealth Fund: Rollback Of Health Insurance Gains Spurred By “Actions By The Current Administration.” “The marked gains in health insurance coverage made since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 are beginning to reverse, according to new findings from the latest Commonwealth Fund ACA Tracking Survey. The coverage declines are likely the result of two major factors: 1) lack of federal legislative actions to improve specific weaknesses in the ACA and 2) actions by the current administration that have exacerbated those weaknesses. These include the administration’s deep cuts in advertising and outreach during the marketplace open-enrollment periods, a shorter open enrollment period, and other actions that collectively may have left people with a general sense of confusion about the status of the law. Signs point to further erosion of insurance coverage in 2019: the repeal of the individual mandate penalty included in the 2017 tax law, recent actions to increase the availability of insurance policies that don’t comply with ACA minimum benefit standards, and support for Medicaid work requirements.” [Commonwealth Fund, 5/1/18]

New York Times: “Rather Than Trying To Eliminate Obamacare In One Fell Swoop, [Republicans Are] Trying To Undermine It With Multiple Acts Of Sabotage – While Hoping Voters Won’t Realize Who’s Responsible For Rising Premiums And Falling Coverage.” “At the beginning of 2017, Republicans promised to release the kraken on Obamacare — to destroy the program with one devastating blow. But a funny thing happened: Voters realized that repealing the Affordable Care Act would mean taking health insurance away from tens of millions of Americans. They didn’t like that prospect — and enough Republicans balked at the backlash that Obamacare repeal fizzled. But Republicans still hate the idea of helping Americans get health care. So instead of releasing the kraken, they’ve brought on the termites. Rather than trying to eliminate Obamacare in one fell swoop, they’re trying to undermine it with multiple acts of sabotage — while hoping voters won’t realize who’s responsible for rising premiums and falling coverage.” [NYT, 5/8/18]

New York Times Editorial Board: “The Administration’s Health Care Sabotage Efforts Have Already Had A Big Impact”: A 30-Percent Premium Increase. “The administration’s health care sabotage efforts have already had a big impact — but not the kind of impact officials promised. Insurance companies raised average premiums for 2018 A.C.A. policies by 30 percent. This has mostly hurt middle-class families who have to pay full freight for health insurance because they make too much money to qualify for subsidies and don’t get coverage through their employer. Few experts were surprised when the Commonwealth Fund found that the percentage of American adults who did not have health insurance jumped to 15.5 percent this year, from 12.7 percent before Mr. Trump took office. Experts say those numbers could climb higher still when the penalty for not having insurance goes away next year.” [NYT, 5/3/18]

Washington Post Editorial Board: “The Numbers Suggest That [The ACA’s] Critics’ Sabotage Efforts Are To Blame. “The effects of the president’s underinformed instincts, enabled by the ideologues in his administration, are beginning to show up in some of the numbers, representing real pain that Americans are suffering for Mr. Trump’s deficient leadership… Obamacare critics regularly describe all problems as the inevitable result of a poorly designed law. But the numbers suggest that the critics’ sabotage efforts are to blame. After impressive declines during President Barack Obama’s second term, the fund found that the uninsured rate increased in both of the years Mr. Trump has been in office. During the campaign, Mr. Trump regularly complained that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) left too many Americans uncovered. The result of nearly a year and a half of Mr. Trump’s leadership is 4 million people added to that group.” [Washington Post, 5/8/18]

America’s Health Insurance Plans: Republican Sabotage Will “Drive Up The Rate Of Premium Increases.” “Policies that disproportionately draw healthy consumers away from the individual market, like expanding access to short-term plans, will likely have an even more devastating effect on affordability, choice and competition. This will further result in adverse selection, drive up the rate of premium increases, and exacerbate affordability issues for many other people.” [America’s Health Insurance Plans Letter to HHS, 4/20/18]

CEO of CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield: Things Are “Materially Worse” Under Trump. “Continuing actions on the part of the administration to systematically undermine the market and make it almost impossible to carry out the mission…If continued efforts at the federal level undermine the marketplaces, I would think the board would have to examine what they would want — that’s very much on their mind.” [Washington Post, 5/1/18]

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey: 2018 Premium Increase Was Due To Federal Policy. “Three factors connected to federal policy decisions are responsible for 14.7% of the 24.3% total average individual premium increase: Weakened enforcement of the Individual Mandate…Elimination of federal funding for Cost Sharing Reductions (CSR), [and] 2018 reinstatement of Health Insurance Tax…Were it not for the three factors within the control of the Federal Government, Horizon BCBSNJ’s individual premiums would have an average increase of 9.6%.” [Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, 10/17/17]

Lindsey Graham: Republicans “Own The Outcome” On Health Care. “Sen. Graham told Breitbart News, ‘In October, premiums are going up. Obamacare cannot be fixed. It’s going to continue to collapse, and then, we own the outcome. By repealing the individual mandate, which is a step forward in the eyes of the public, we own the issue. We have a responsibility to do something about the collapsing Obamacare system. I believe that we’re going to get blamed more than Democrats because we stopped trying to repeal Obamacare, and to suggest that we don’t own it is just simply politically naive.’ Graham continued, ‘It can hurt us in 2018. It can hurt by our base feeling like we betrayed them. It can hurt us from people suffering from Obamacare, like we don’t have a solution. It will energize Democrats. It can undercut everything we did on the tax cut side.’” [Breitbart, 2/6/18]

Rep. Charlie Dent: “We, The Republican Party…Own” Health Care Now. “Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) argued Friday that President Trump was ‘ill-advised’ to end key ObamaCare payments, warning that the GOP now ‘owns’ whatever happens to ObamaCare. ‘I think the president is ill-advised to take this course of action because … we, the Republican Party, will own this,’ Dent, a key House moderate who is retiring from Congress at the end of his term, said on CNN. Asked about Trump’s previous comments blaming problems with ObamaCare on former President Barack Obama, Dent pointed out that Republicans currently control the White House and have majorities in both chambers of Congress. ‘Barack Obama is a former president. President Trump is the president and he’s a Republican, and we control the Congress,’ Dent said. ‘So we own the system now. We’re going to have to figure out a way to stabilize this situation … This is on us.’” [The Hill, 10/13/17]

Washington Post: “The Pottery Barn Rule Comes To Mind: You Break It, You Own It.” “This is not ‘letting’ Obamacare fail. Many nonpartisan experts believe that these active measures are likely to undermine the pillars of the 2010 law and hasten the collapse of the marketplaces. The Pottery Barn rule comes to mind: You break it, you own it. Yes, the plate you just shattered had some cracks in it. But if you dropped it on the ground, the store is going to blame you.” [Washington Post, 10/13/17]

Washington Post: “Trump’s Not Going To Be Able To Avoid Blame For Kneecapping Obamacare.” [Washington Post, 10/13/17]

“After Months Of Pinning The Blame For Obamacare’s Shortcomings On Democrats And Watching His Own Party Fail To Act, President Donald Trump Just Took Ownership Of A Struggle That’s Consumed Republicans For Seven Years.” “After months of pinning the blame for Obamacare’s shortcomings on Democrats and watching his own party fail to act, President Donald Trump just took ownership of a struggle that’s consumed Republicans for seven years. Trump’s decision late Thursday to end government subsidies to insurers to help lower-income Americans afford to use their coverage under the Affordable Care Act was the most drastic step he’s taken to undermine his predecessor’s signature achievement. It also lobbed a live bomb into the laps of Republicans lawmakers 13 months before congressional elections after he publicly berated the party’s Senate leadership for being unable to keep a longstanding promise to repeal the law.” [Bloomberg, 10/13/17]

The American People Agree: President Trump And Congressional Republicans Are Playing Politics With People’s Health Care. A poll conducted last September found that 61 percent of voters believed President Trump was “trying to make the Affordable Care Act fail,” and 64 percent of voters said Trump is “playing politics with people’s health care.” The poll also found that the American people seriously disapprove of how Republicans in Congress are treating health care: 80 percent of voters disapprove while only 20 percent approve. [Hart Research, 9/5/17]

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Seema Verma Admits Her Administration Will Let Uninsured Rate Continue to Rise

Washington, D.C. – This morning at the America’s Health Care Future event hosted by the Washington Post, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma admitted that the uninsured rate will continue to rise under their watch. Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement in response:

“Administrator Verma’s remarks this morning are only the latest example of the Trump Administration demonstrating their total disregard for Americans’ health care. During President Trump’s first year in office, the uninsured rate grew by 3 million – the largest increase since 2008. During President Trump’s second year in office, premiums are expected to increase double-digits across the country. The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have carried out a sabotage campaign designed to make the Affordable Care Act fail, and they have succeeded to the detriment of the American people. Administrator Verma’s admitting that the Administration has no plans to stop this suffering is disgraceful. Enough is enough – it’s time for the GOP to end their war on health care.

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Why Vermonters’ Insurance Is Getting Even More Expensive: The Trump Administration and Washington Republicans Keep Sabotaging Health Care

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary Vermont rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential double-digit premium increases due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“For the past year and a half, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have engaged in a deliberate, aggressive campaign to undermine health care and now families in Vermont are being asked to pay the price. While insurance companies make huge profits and enjoy record tax breaks from Republicans, they are planning to charge working families even more. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable, instead of helping their friends in the insurance industry make another buck on the backs of hardworking Vermonters.”

From the Insurance Companies:

Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont: Federal Actions Are Responsible For 2.2 Percent Premium Increases. Recent federal legislation also eliminated the penalty associated with the individual mandate. As a result, it is expected that a number of healthy individuals will choose to forgo coverage and leave the single risk pool. This is expected to exert an upward pressure of 2.2 percent on premium rates. [BCBS, 5/14]

Why Vermonters’ Insurance Is Getting Even More Expensive: The Trump Administration and Washington Republicans Keep Sabotaging Health Care

Now, initial rate filings in Vermont forecast double-digit rate hikes again this fall because of Republican sabotage.

Experts from AARP, the Congressional Budget Office, and a wide range of other nonpartisan organizations agree that Republican actions are forcing up health care costs.
Republicans in Congress are supporting the Administration’s many actions to undermine health care, despite widespread opposition from patient and disease groups, doctors, nurses, hospitals, plus health care and consumer advocates.
The Trump Administration officials keep rewriting the rules to let big insurance companies cover fewer and fewer services while charging people more and more. The sabotage doesn’t stop there: last year the Administration fired many of the community assisters who help people enroll in health care; this year they are planning more enrollment cuts, making it even harder to sign up for coverage.
And now, Republicans are encouraging insurance companies to sell more junk plans that don’t have to cover basic care like hospitalization and prescription drugs, and that are allowed to charge people with pre-existing conditions more or even deny them coverage altogether.

The Republican tax bill’s repeal of a key Affordable Care Act provision and the Trump Administration’s junk plan proposal will increase individual market premiums in Vermont by an average 12.2 percent this fall, according to a recent Urban Institute study.
This sabotage-driven rate hike will make the damage Republicans inflicted last year through repeal attempts and sabotage even worse.
Higher premiums will mean fewer working families can afford coverage: during the first year of the Trump Administration, millions more Americans joined the ranks of the uninsured – the highest increase since Gallup started tracking the uninsured rate.

This could have been avoided: if Republicans had stopped sabotaging health care, American families wouldn’t be facing another huge increase this fall.

Even the Trump Administration has admitted that the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces had been stabilizing prior to them coming into office.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had predicted only modest rate increases if Republicans hadn’t sabotaged the markets.
Even Senate Republicans admitted this fall’s upcoming rate hikes were “avoidable,” but then they torched bipartisan stabilization talks at the last minute, prioritizing partisan politics over their last opportunity to help American families afford health care next year.

Vermonters Won’t Forget That Republicans And The Trump Administration Keep Forcing Up Health Care Costs To Score Political Points.

Health care costs are a top issue in nearly every major issue-ranked poll in 2018.
Voters overwhelmingly trust Democrats over Republicans on health care costs.
In poll after poll, voters resoundingly reject President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage campaign against the Affordable Care Act.

Despite Republican Sabotage, The Affordable Care Act Has Improved Vermonters’ Care.

28,763 Vermonters signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace and Medicaid expansion, Vermont’s uninsured rate fell by 2.6 percent between 2013 and 2016 as Vermonters have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that Vermont premiums for 2019 could rise 12.2 percent more because of the Trump Administration’s junk plan proposal and the Republican tax bill’s repeal of a key Affordable Care Act coverage incentive.
Even despite sabotage, Affordable Care Act subsidies help keep coverage affordable for 79 percent of Vermont Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $192 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income Vermonters could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

KEY QUOTES

Washington Post: “Trump’s Not Going To Be Able To Avoid Blame For Kneecapping Obamacare.” [Washington Post, 10/13/17]

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“The Health Industry Appears Unfazed”: President Trump’s Phony Prescription Drug Speech Not Getting Better with Age

President Trump’s widely-panned prescription drug pricing speech continues to earn poor reviews for choosing big drug companies over everyday Americans. The early reviews of the speech were not kind, with headlines ranging from “Looks Nothing Like What He Promised” to “Lets Drug Companies Off the Hook,” and they haven’t let up. As HHS Secretary Alex Azar attempts to cover the Administration’s tracks with his own speech this morning, here are some late-breaking headlines about Trump’s tone-deaf speech:

Washington Post: Trump’s drug price retreat adds to list of abandoned populist promises

Washington Post: The health industry appears unfazed by Trump’s drug pricing speech

Bloomberg: Drug Industry Dodges Its Worst Fears in Trump’s Plan to Lower Prices

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Experts say Trump’s prescription to reduce drug prices is not what the doctor ordered

PharmTech: Trump Drug Pricing Plan Outlines Rule Changes Pharma Can Live With

Fox News: Trump’s new prescription drug plan is incomplete — here are two ways to make it better

STAT News: Trump promised to bring pharma to justice. His speech sent drug stocks soaring

McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Trump prescription plan doesn’t include Medicare-negotiated pricing

The American Prospect: To Bring Drug Prices Down, Trump Proposes — Nothing, Really

Fortune: Why Trump’s Big Drug Price Speech Sent Health Care Stocks Soaring

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“Big Pharma Gets A Big Win”: Trump’s Phony Prescription Drug Speech By the Headlines

Yesterday, President Trump once again choose big drug companies over everyday Americans. His plan broke his promise to do the one thing that would lower prices for tens of millions, allow Medicare to negotiate for a fair price, and its clear winners were the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies, which saw their stock prices surge after his remarks. Here’s how it was covered, by the headlines:

Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Plan to Cut Drug Prices Leaves Industry Relieved

Bloomberg: Trump’s ‘Sweeping’ Drug-Price Plan Comes Up Short

Reuters: RPT-Trump plan for drug prices seen largely sparing industry

Huffington Post: Trump’s Plan On Prescription Drug Prices Looks Nothing Like What He Promised

Associated Press: President Trump’s Plan to Lower Drug Prices Spares Pharma Industry

Yahoo Finance: Trump lets drug companies off the hook

The Atlantic: Big Pharma Gets a Big Win From Trump

Washington Examiner: Big Pharma largely unscathed by Trump’s drug-price crackdown

Bio Pharma Dive: Pharma breathes easy as Trump’s drug pricing plan fizzles

Chicago Tribune: Trump’s plan to reduce drug prices doesn’t include campaign pledge to allow Medicare to negotiate prices

Endpoints News: Trump’s ‘sweeping action’ to lower drug prices mocked by analysts as relieved investors trigger rally in Big Pharma stocks

Vice: Trump Officially Backed Out of His Own Plan to Make Drugs Cheaper