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protectourcare
In News, Administration, Capitol Hill

New Poll: Health Care Is A Top Issue For North Dakotans

New poll released ahead of Protect Our Care’s “Care Force One” Bus Tour Rolling Into Fargo and Bismarck

Six in 10 Voters Disapprove Of Cramer’s Vote to Repeal Health Care and Revive Age Tax

Sixty Percent of Voters Oppose Trump Administration’s Lawsuit To Gut Pre-existing Conditions Protections and Cramer’s Support for Health Repeal

 

Washington DC — Ahead of the ‘Care Force One’ bus tour stops on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 in Fargo and Bismarck, a new poll by Change Research for Protect Our Care shows sixty percent of voters strongly oppose the Trump-GOP lawsuit to eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions and fifty-two percent say health care is very important to them in the midterms. This poll shows danger ahead for Kevin Cramer, who has voted repeatedly to repeal health care for North Dakotans and served as one of the biggest cheerleaders of the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care issued the following statement upon the poll’s findings:

 

“Kevin Cramer thinks he can hide his shameful record on health care from the public, but he can’t: From his support of the Trump-GOP lawsuit that would eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions to ads that flat-out lie about his record, Cramer has done absolutely nothing to help North Dakotans have quality and affordable health care — and worse, he’s taken many steps to harm them. For years, Cramer has voted to repeal our care and give insurance companies the power to deny or drop coverage, or charge more because of a pre-existing condition or a person’s age. By putting big insurance companies ahead of working North Dakota families, Kevin Cramer has not earned a promotion to the Senate.”

 

Key Findings from the Protect Our Care-Change Research survey of North Dakota Voters:

  • Sixty percent of voters oppose the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions, while only twenty-nine percent support
  • Fifty-two percent of voters say health care is very important when deciding their vote for the U.S. Senate
  • Sixty-one percent of voters have a major concern with Cramer’s vote to repeal the ACA and allow insurance companies to charge an age tax for people 50 and older.
  • Fifty-three percent of voters have a major concern with Cramer’s vote to repeal the ACA and undermine protections for people with pre-existing condition

This poll surveyed 967 registered voters online in North Dakota on October 3, 2018 using Change Research’s bias correct engine. The margin of error is +/- 3.15% and the post-stratification was done on age, gender, ethnicity, and 2016 presidential vote.

Health Care Repeal in North Dakota would mean the elimination of:

    • Protections for 316,000 North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions
    • Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
    • Allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
    • Ban on annual and lifetime limits
    • Ban on insurance discrimination against women
    • Medicaid expansion currently covering 21,400 North Dakotans
    • Marketplace tax credits and coverage for up to 20,000 North Dakotans.

 

Kevin Cramer Repeatedly Voted to Eliminate Repeal Health Care Protections for People Over Age 50 and People with Pre-existing Conditions

2013:  Cramer Voted For A Total Repeal Of The ACA.  Cramer voted for HR 45, an act “to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.” [HR 45, Roll Call Vote #154, 5/16/13]

2015:  Cramer Voted For A Total Repeal Of The ACA.  Cramer voted for HR 596, an act “to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.”  The bill also ordered House committees to develop a replacement that would “provide people with pre-existing conditions access to affordable health coverage,” but provided no specifics. [HR 596, Roll Call Vote #58, 2/3/15]

 

  • Cramer Said The Bill Would “Repeal The Affordable Care Act In Its Entirety.” “Today Congressman Kevin Cramer voted with the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety.” [Cramer Website, 2/3/15]

 

2017: Cramer Voted For AHCA.  Cramer voted for passage of the American Health Care Act.  [HR 1628, Roll Call Vote #256, 5/4/17]

 

Cramer supports the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to roll back coverage for people with pre-existing conditions

Kevin Cramer vigorously supports the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back coverage for people with pre-existing conditions via a lawsuit that would eliminate the protections for pre-existing conditions that exist in the ACA.  

Cramer is now doubling down on his support for the AHCA last year, a bill which would have allowed insurance companies to go back to charging people with pre-existing conditions “prohibitively high premiums.”  

Cramer’s support for these measures puts the health of the 316,000 North Dakotans living with a pre-existing condition at risk and would take us back to the days when insurers routinely denied coverage or charged unaffordable premiums to people with pre-existing conditions, including cancer, asthma and hypertension.

 

 

ashoup
In News

Iowans Stand Up to Say, “It’s Time to End the Republican War on Health Care”

Local Health Care Advocates Join Protect Our Care to Call for an End to GOP Attacks on Iowans’ Health Care

State Rep. Bruce Hunter speaks in Des Moines, Iowa.

DES MOINES, IOWA- This morning, Protect Our Care’s nationwide bus tour arrived in Des Moines to call attention to the ongoing Republican war on health care care. Hosted by Raygun and headlined by State Rep. Bruce Hunter and cancer survivor Laura Packard, the event highlighted the actions Republicans are taking to harm Iowans’ care and called on the GOP to work instead to protect our care.

“I’m not sure what exactly David Young is working for. You may think he’s working for his big donors but this is an issue to large corporations, too,” said Mike Draper, owner of Raygun. “I would like to see not only the ACA stay in place, but be improved upon, and improved upon thoughtfully,”

Draper was echoed by State Rep. Bruce Hunter.

“Tell our elected officials that we want health care that actually works for Iowa and the rest of the country,” said Rep. Hunter, who spoke of Iowa Republicans’ privatization of Medicaid and the harm it has brought to Iowans. “It’s estimated that over 40,000 people in the state of Iowa alone have had their benefits drastically cut… To say that it is a disaster is not hyperbole.”

The stakes of the event were made clear by Packard.

“I’m alive because of the Affordable Care Act,” said Packard. “I’m a stage four cancer survivor and I’m on this tour to defend our attacks against the GOP. President Trump may have blocked me on Twitter, but he can’t stop me and the American people from fighting to protect our care.”

Rep. Hunter, Draper, and Packard were joined by Matt Sinovic, Executive Director of Progress Iowa, who spoke of the need to maintain the protections that 1.3 million Iowans with pre-existing conditions depend on, and Sue Dinsdale, Executive Director of Iowa Citizen Action Network, who called on Republicans to listen to their constituents, noting that health care is not a blue issue or a red issue but a personal one.

At today’s event, Des Moines residents, health care advocates, elected officials, and members of Protect Our Care detailed the numbers ways in which Republicans have attacked health care, and how these actions have cut coverage and increased costs for Iowans. Because of the Republican repeal-and-sabotage agenda:

  • Iowans will see their premiums rise by an average of 5.6 percent next year. It’s expected that 40 year old Iowans will face an extra $1,450 for marketplace coverage in 2019 because of Republican sabotage of the health care market.
  • In Iowa, out of pocket costs for older people could have increased by as much as $12,671 by 2026 if the House-passed American Health Care Act had become law.
  • Iowa expanded Medicaid under the ACA and the nearly 150,000 Iowans who have gained coverage because of this program would find their care at risk if the law were repealed.
  • Junk insurance plans that charge money for skimpy coverage could return to Iowa and 71,000 Iowans could lack comprehensive coverage in 2019 because they will either become uninsured or will be enrolled in junk plans that don’t provide key health benefits.
  • 46,000 Iowans who have obtained health insurance through the ACA marketplace could lose their coverage if a judge sides with President Trump and the GOP in their lawsuit; and protections for 1.3 million Iowans, including 343,000 in IA-03, living with a pre-existing condition would be in jeopardy/
  • Hundreds of billions of dollars have been cut from Medicare.
  • Dozens of hospitals in rural areas have closed, exacerbating the care and coverage gaps that exist for families in America’s rural communities.
  • Representative David Young voted for and passed a health care repeal bill that would cause 23 million people to lose coverage and gut protections for people with pre-existing condition; voted for a budget amendment that would cut Medicaid by $700 billion over ten years, $114 billion in a single year alone; voted for a tax scam that doubled as a sneaky repeal of the Affordable Care Act  by kicking 13 million people off of their insurance and raising premiums by double digits for millions more.

Later today, “Care Force One” will head to Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information, please visit protectourcarebustour.com.

ashoup
In News

New Ads Preview Dangerous Future for Health Care, With Collins Refusing To Stand Up for Mainers by Putting Kavanaugh on the Court

New TV Ad “Breaking News” Previews a Scary Future When the ACA is Struck Down by a Court Hostile to Health Care

Washington, D.C. – In the wake of Senator Susan Collins casting the decisive vote to confirm extreme nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Protect Our Care is launching new television and digital ads in Maine. The new ad in Maine shows the scary future we could face when Justice Brett Kavanaugh sides with the Trump Administration and casts the deciding vote to strike down the Affordable Care Act and its protections for 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.

“Americans do not want protections for the more than 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions taken away from them by the Supreme Court, but President Trump does. Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be a rubber stamp on his war on health care was a true test of Senator Collins’s commitment to health care. Senator Collins failed that test, and Mainers will remember where she stood when the Court rules to rip health care away from us,” said Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care.

Watch the new TV and digital ad airing in Maine.

The new ad campaign comes after Collins’ ignored months of activity in Maine and in DC where constituents have implored the Senator to stand up for health care and oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Court. The groundswell of opposition to Kavanaugh’s nomination was borne out by poll after poll showing weak support for Kavanaugh, making him the most unpopular Supreme Court nominee in three decades. In fact, a recent Protect Our Care-PPP polling found that just 42 percent of Mainers want Sen. Collins to confirm Judge Kavanaugh and that a vote to confirm him would harm Sen. Collins’ re-election prospects.

protectourcare
In News

Final Rates Confirm Ohioans’ Insurance Is Getting Even More Expensive

Trump Administration and Washington Republicans’ Health Care Sabotage Raises Rates

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, Ohio announced final rates for 2019 individual-market health insurance plans, which indicate that premiums will increase by an average of 6.3 percent statewide, in contrast to the average nationwide 4.3 percent decrease that Brookings Institution analysts predicted would occur absent GOP sabotage, on top of last year’s double-digit rate hike due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda. Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, released the following statement in response:

“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 families in Ohio are once again forced to pay the price. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, insurance companies will continue to make huge profits and enjoy record tax breaks from Republicans while they charge working families more and more. 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 Ohioans.”

From the Experts:

Loren Anthes, Cleveland-based Center for Community Solutions: Unpredictability In Marketplace Causing Rates To Increase. Cut funding for outreach and navigator groups, repeal of individual mandate, shorter open enrollment period, and expanded association health plans create unpredictability — “That kind of unpredictability also creates the conditions where you have to raise prices…Insurance companies are businesses.” [Cleveland Plain Dealer, 6/22/18]

Brookings Analysis Estimates That Individual Market Premiums Would Decrease If Not For GOP Sabotage. Among its key findings:

  • Estimates That Average Premium Would Fall By 4.3 Percent In 2019 In Stable Policy Environment. “I estimate that the nationwide average per member per month premium in the individual market would fall by 4.3 percent in 2019 in a stable policy environment.” [Brookings Institution, 8/1/18]
  • Insurance Companies’ Revenues Will Far Exceed Their Costs In 2018. “I project that insurers’ revenues in the ACA-compliant individual market will far exceed their costs in 2018, generating a positive underwriting margin of 10.5 percent of premium revenue. This is up from a modest positive margin of 1.2 percent of premium revenue in 2017 and contrasts sharply with the substantial losses insurers incurred in the ACA-compliant market in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The estimated 2018 margin also far exceeds insurers’ margins in the pre-ACA individual market. ” [Brookings Institution, 8/1/18]
  • Absent Republican Sabotage, Average Premiums For ACA-Compliant Plans Would Likely Fall In 2019. “In this analysis, I define a stable policy environment as one in which the federal policies toward the individual market in effect for 2018 remain in effect for 3 2019. Notably, this scenario assumes that the individual mandate remains in effect for 2019, but also assumes that policies implemented prior to 2018, like the end of CSR payments, remain in effect as well. Under those circumstances, insurers’ costs would rise only moderately in 2019, primarily reflecting normal growth in medical costs.” [Brookings Institution, 8/1/18]
protectourcare
In News, Administration

Protect Our Care Statement on Kavanaugh’s Confirmation

Washington, DC – Upon a majority of the U.S. Senate voting to approve Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care, issued the following statement:

“America has seen the real Brett Kavanaugh — an angry, entitled, dishonest, partisan operative — and by historic proportions, they have opposed this nominee and asked their Senators to vote no. When Brett Kavanaugh uses his power as a justice to steamroll health care and abortion rights for the American people,millions will suffer the consequences of this vote. Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation puts an indelible stain on our nation’s highest court, and poses a significant risk for the millions of Americans whose pre-existing conditions are protected because of the ACA, or whoever may need a safe and legal abortion. The Republicans who control the Senate”refused to fully investigate the sexual assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh, and refused to allow a full and thorough review of his nomination throughout the process.”

ashoup
In News

Cedar Falls Local Leaders Stand Up to Say, “It’s Time to End the Republican War on Health Care”

Local Health Care Advocates Join Protect Our Care to Call for an End to GOP Attacks on Iowans’ Health Care

Black Hawk County Supervisor Chris Schwartz speaks in front of Care Force One in Cedar Falls.

CEDAR FALLS, IOWA- This afternoon, Protect Our Care’s nationwide bus tour arrived in Cedar Falls to call attention to the ongoing Republican war on health care care. Headlined by Black Hawk County Supervisor Chris Schwartz and cancer survivor Laura Packard, the event highlighted the actions Republicans are trying to harm Iowans’ care and called on the GOP to work instead to protect our care.

“I’m alive because of the Affordable Care Act,” said Packard. “I’m a stage four cancer survivor and I’m on this tour to defend our attacks against the GOP. President Trump may have blocked me on Twitter, but he can’t stop me and the American people from fighting to protect our care.”

“Rod Blum has never had to worry about his health care,” said Schwartz. “Rod Blum has never had to worry about losing his home because someone in his family got sick. Rod Blum doesn’t have to decide between paying for his medication and paying his utilities… Every family is going to have a crisis at some point, and if we don’t have the Affordable Care Act in place, I feel sorry for the future.”

Packard and Schwartz were joined by small business owner Dave Deibler, who talked about the inability of his wife to obtain coverage before the ACA due to her pre-existing condition, as well as Ruth Strong and Sherry Kiskunas, Black Hawk County residents who spoke of the pre-existing conditions they and their loved ones have, the access they have gained to care under the ACA, and  the harms repeal would bring to Iowans of all backgrounds.

The full event can be seen here.

At today’s event, Cedar Falls residents, health care advocates, elected officials and members of Protect Our Care detailed the numbers ways in which Republicans have attacked health care, and how these actions have cut coverage and increased costs for Iowans. Because of the Republican repeal-and-sabotage agenda:

  • Iowans will see their premiums rise by an average of 5.6 percent next year. It’s expected that 40 year old Iowans will face an extra $1,450 for marketplace coverage in 2019 because of Republican sabotage of the health care market.
  • In Iowa, out of pocket costs for older people could have increased by as much as $12,671 by 2026 if the House-passed American Health Care Act had become law.
  • Iowa expanded Medicaid under the ACA and the nearly 150,000 Iowans who have gained coverage because of this program would find their care at risk if the law were repealed.
  • Junk insurance plans that charge money for skimpy coverage could return to Iowa and 71,000 Iowans could lack comprehensive coverage in 2019 because they will either become uninsured or will be enrolled in junk plans that don’t provide key health benefits.
  • 46,000 Iowans who have obtained health insurance through the ACA marketplace could lose their coverage if a judge sides with President Trump and the GOP in their lawsuit; and protections for 1.3 million Iowans, including 318,300 in IA-01, living with a pre-existing condition would be in jeopardy.
  • Hundreds of billions of dollars have been cut from Medicare.
  • Dozens of hospitals in rural areas have closed, exacerbating the care and coverage gaps that exist for families in America’s rural communities.
  • Representative Rod Blum voted for and passed a health care repeal bill that would cause 23 million people to lose coverage and gut protections for people with pre-existing condition; voted for a budget amendment that would cut Medicaid by $700 billion over ten years, $114 billion in a single year alone; voted for a tax scam that doubled as a sneaky repeal of the Affordable Care Act  by kicking 13 million people off of their insurance and raising premiums by double digits for millions more.

Next Monday, “Care Force One” will head to Des Moines. For more information, please visit protectourcarebustour.com.

protectourcare
In News

Final Rates Confirm Coloradans’ Insurance Is Getting Even More Expensive

Trump Administration and Washington Republicans’ Health Care Sabotage Raises Rates

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, Colorado announced final rates for 2019 individual-market health insurance plans, which indicate that premiums will increase by an average of 5.6 percent statewide and as much as 21.6 percent in Denver, in contrast to the average nationwide 4.3 percent decrease that Brookings Institution analysts predicted would occur absent GOP sabotage, on top of last year’s double-digit rate hike due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda. Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, released the following statement in response:

“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 families in Colorado are once again forced to pay the price. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, insurance companies will continue to make huge profits and enjoy record tax breaks from Republicans while they charge working families more and more. 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 Coloradans.”

From the Insurance Companies:

Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway: “Decisions At The Federal Level Continue to Make Life Interesting.” “In past years, challenges continue. Just last week, the Trump administration decided to freeze a key ACA program designed to discourage insurers from favoring healthy people over less healthy ones. ‘Decisions at the federal level continue to make life interesting,’ said Commissioner Conway. ‘But as we have in the past, we will find a solution to this most recent announcement. To that end, just this morning, I informed the insurance carriers that we will require that they account for their respective risk adjustment receivables or payables as they are reflected in the July 9, 2018 federal report. I will take any subsequent steps that are necessary to protect Coloradans and to maintain market stability.’” [Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, 7/13/18]

Office Of Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway: Individual Market Premiums Increasing An Average Of 5.94 Percent, Increasing As High As 12.3 Percent. “For 2019 individual plans, the average premium increase request is 5.94 percent across all companies and metal levels. In the small group market, the average premium increase request is 7.15 percent. Remember, these are averages across all plans from all companies, across all areas of the state where a company offers plans, for all ages. These averages are not representative of how one individual’s premium could change. Looking closer, the requested average premium increase for individual gold plans is 6.85 percent, and is 12.3 percent for silver plans. For bronze plans, the requested average premium increase is 0.9 percent.” [Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, 7/13/18]

From the Experts:

Brookings Analysis Estimates That Individual Market Premiums Would Decrease If Not For GOP Sabotage. Among its key findings:

  • Estimates That Average Premium Would Fall By 4.3 Percent In 2019 In Stable Policy Environment. “I estimate that the nationwide average per member per month premium in the individual market would fall by 4.3 percent in 2019 in a stable policy environment.” [Brookings Institution, 8/1/18]
  • Insurance Companies’ Revenues Will Far Exceed Their Costs In 2018. “I project that insurers’ revenues in the ACA-compliant individual market will far exceed their costs in 2018, generating a positive underwriting margin of 10.5 percent of premium revenue. This is up from a modest positive margin of 1.2 percent of premium revenue in 2017 and contrasts sharply with the substantial losses insurers incurred in the ACA-compliant market in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The estimated 2018 margin also far exceeds insurers’ margins in the pre-ACA individual market. ” [Brookings Institution, 8/1/18]
  • Absent Republican Sabotage, Average Premiums For ACA-Compliant Plans Would Likely Fall In 2019. “In this analysis, I define a stable policy environment as one in which the federal policies toward the individual market in effect for 2018 remain in effect for 3 2019. Notably, this scenario assumes that the individual mandate remains in effect for 2019, but also assumes that policies implemented prior to 2018, like the end of CSR payments, remain in effect as well. Under those circumstances, insurers’ costs would rise only moderately in 2019, primarily reflecting normal growth in medical costs.” [Brookings Institution, 8/1/18]
ashoup
In News

Wisconsinites Stand Up to Say, “It’s Time to End the Republican War on Health Care”

Local Health Care Advocates Join Protect Our Care to Call for an End to GOP Attacks on Wisconsinites’ Health Care

Mandela Barnes speaks at the Protect Our Care event in Madison, Wisconsin.

MADISON, WISCONSIN – This morning, Protect Our Care’s nationwide bus tour arrived in Madison to call attention to ongoing Republican war on health care care. Former State Representative Mandela Barnes, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, and State Representative Christine Taylor joined cancer survivor Laura Packard to highlight the actions Republicans are taking to harm Wisconsinites’ care and called on Attorney General Brad Schimel to work instead to protect our care.

“It’s a very scary thought when your government does not want you to be taken care of,” Barnes said about the GOP’s constant attacks on Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions. “When Governor Scott Walker gets on TV and says he wants to cover pre-existing conditions, he is lying to you.”

Barnes’ comments were echoed by Rep. Taylor and Mayor Soglin, who expressed their outrage with the GOP sabotage agenda.

“We could have saved $200 million and we could have covered 85,000 Wisconsinites,” Rep. Taylor said about the decision to refuse to expand Medicaid. “This governor had the opportunity to cover more and pay less, and he refused to do it.

“I cannot understand for the life of me why we have a governor so intent on taking away care.”

“The Affordable Care Act has been the most critical piece of legislation passed in the last generation,” said Mayor Soglin, who spoke of his frustration with Republicans over their refusal to expand coverage to Wisconsinites and the harm his constituents are unnecessarily facing because of GOP actions.

The stakes of the event were made clear by Packard.

“I’m alive because of the Affordable Care Act,” said Packard. “I’m a stage four cancer survivor and I’m on this tour to defend our attacks against the GOP. President Trump may have blocked me on Twitter, but he can’t stop me and the American people from fighting to protect our care.”

At today’s event, Madison residents, health care advocates, elected officials, and members of Protect Our Care detailed the numbers ways in which Republicans have attacked health care, and how these actions have cut coverage and increased costs for Wisconsinites. Because of the Republican repeal-and-sabotage agenda:

  • Wisconsinites will see their premiums rise by an average of 3.5 percent next year. It’s expected that 40 year old Wisconsinites would face paying an extra $1,450 for marketplace coverage in 2019 because of sabotage of the ACA.
  • In Wisconsin, out of pocket costs for older people could have increased by as much as $12,249 by 2026 if the House-passed American Health Care Act had become law.
  • More than 80,000 Wisconsinites have been denied access to affordable health coverage through Republican state officials’ refusal to expand Medicaid.
  • 216,000 Wisconsinites who have obtained health insurance through the ACA marketplace could lose their coverage if a judge sides with Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, President Trump and the GOP in their lawsuit; and protections for 2.4 million Wisconsinites living with a pre-existing condition would be in jeopardy.
  • Hundreds of billions of dollars have been cut from Medicare.
  • Dozens of hospitals in rural areas, including Franciscan Skemp Medical Center (2011) in Wisconsin, have closed exacerbating the care and coverage gaps that exist for families in America’s rural communities.
  • Attorney General Brad Schimel is a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act who has vowed to try to repeal the law. Although he claims to support protections for people with pre-existing conditions, Schimel was one of the first state attorneys general to join lawsuit that would roll back that coverage and eliminate the protections for pre-existing conditions that exist in the ACA. Schimel’s participation in the suit puts the health of the 2.4 million Wisconsinites living with a pre-existing condition at risk and would take us back to the days when insurers routinely denied coverage or charged unaffordable premiums to people with pre-existing conditions, including cancer, asthma, and hypertension.
  • Leah Vukmir  supports a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Vukmir also supports the Trump administration’s lawsuit that could cause as many as 2.4 million Wisconsinites with a pre-existing condition to lose their care, calling it a “necessary step.”

Later today, “Care Force One” will head to Cedar Falls, Iowa. For more information, please visit protectourcarebustour.com.

Sean England
In News

Five things to watch for in today’s MPR MN03 debate

Minneapolis, MN—The debate today between Rep. Erik Paulsen and challenger Dean Phillips will make it very clear to voters where they stand on key issues, including health care. Health care remains among the top issues in MN03, with over 60% of voters saying it is either the top issue or very important this election. Polls also show that Paulsen has a steep hill to climb on this issue, with Democrats holding a decisive advantage on who voters trust more, what to do with the Affordable Care Act, and how to handle protections for the 2.3 million Minnesotans with preexisting conditions. Given Paulsen’s record on health care here are five things to watch for today:

1)    How will Paulsen try and claim he supports protections for people with preexisting conditions while actively trying to subvert them? Since 2011 Erik Paulsen has voted no less than five times to fully repeal or substantially alter the  Affordable Care Act (ACA), all of which would have taken away protections for 2.3 million Minnesotans with preexisting conditions and cut essential health care programs. These actions directly contradict his stated position that he has “long supported protections for people with preexisting conditions.”

2)    How will Paulsen try and distance himself from Donald Trump on health care when he’s supported him all the way on the issue?  When it comes to health care Erik Paulsen has supported Donald Trump 100% of the time, doubling down on attacks on people with pre-existing conditions, in the courts, through legislation and through regulations that promote junk plans and restrict Medicaid.

3)    Will Paulsen claim that he’ll protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security? Just Last week Erik Paulsen joined other House Republicans in passing a second set of tax cuts to benefit the wealthiest Americans and big corporations at the expense of working families. These tax cuts have led to trillion dollar deficits, which Republicans are now using as an excuse to go after Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare.

Earlier this month, Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council, confirmed that they still have their sights set on Americans’ care. Asked when programs like Social Security and Medicare will be looked at for reforms, Kudlow replied, “Everyone will look at that — probably next year.” And last December, when President Trump signed the first round of $1.5 trillion tax bill that disproportionately benefits the wealthy, Speaker Paul Ryan made it clear they would cut programs like Medicaid that support working families. “Frankly, it’s the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt.”

4)    How will Paulsen claim he’s doing all he can to fight the opioid crisis? Medicaid and protections for preexisting conditions are the best tools in the policy toolbox to combat it, and Paulsen’s politically expedient votes to support legislation to confront the opioid crisis don’t change the damage he would do by eliminating those.

  • In 2014, Medicaid paid for 25 percent of all addiction treatment nationwide.
  • It is estimated that Medicaid expansion covers four in 10 people with an opioid use disorder.
  • The opioid epidemic is now the most deadly drug overdose crisis in U.S. history. In 2016, roughly 64,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, meaning that more American lives were lost due to drug overdoses in 2016 than were lost in combat during the entirety of the Vietnam War. Two-thirds of 2016 drug overdoses involved opioids.
  • Medicaid expansion has reduced unmet need for substance use treatment by more than 18 percent. Recent research finds that Medicaid expanding reduced the unmet need for substance use treatment by 18.3 percent.

5)    Will Paulsen claim to support MinnesotaCare?

Republican attacks on the Affordable Care Act have jeopardized MinnesotaCare, Minnesota’s twenty-five year old health care program for the working poor. The Trump Administration has threatened to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for this crucial program that helps low-income Minnesotans access affordable health coverage, and votes by Paulsen to repeal the Affordable Care Act would also lead to hundreds of millions in cuts. 

Additional Background

What would full repeal of the Affordable Care Act eliminate?

  • Protections for 2,331,000 Minnesotans, including 310,200 of Paulsen’s constituents in MN-03, with pre-existing conditions, if they buy coverage on their own
  • Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs
  • Allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26
  • Ban on annual and lifetime limits
  • Ban on insurance discrimination against women
  • Limit on out-of-pocket costs
  • Medicaid expansion currently covering 15 million people
  • Rules to hold insurance companies accountable
  • Small business tax credits
  • Marketplace tax credits and coverage for up to 120,000 Minnesotans

What would have the American Health Care Act (Republican ACA replacement bill Paulsen voted for) meant for Minnesota?

  • In 2026, more than 254,000 Minnesotans would lose coverage under this bill, including 27,700 in Paulsen’s district.
  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the American Health Care Act would have raised premiums 20 percent in 2018.
  • AHCA imposed what the AARP calls an “age tax” on older Americans. In Minnesota, out-of-pocket costs for older people could increase by as much as $11,564  by 2026.
  • The negative economic impact of the American Health Care Act would cause 24,785 Minnesotans to lose their jobs by 2022, including 1,062 in the 3rd congressional district

MN03 survey findings:

  • A majority of voters (56%- 37%) – say they trust Democrats more than Republicans with their health care.
  • MN03 voters oppose repealing the Affordable Care Act and instead want to keep what works and fix what doesn’t by a27-point margin.
  • MN03 voters oppose the Trump Administration’s efforts to eliminate the health care law’s protections for people with preexisting conditions by a margin of 68% – 17%. 

You can read the full polling results for MN03 here

ashoup
In News

Wisconsinites Stand Up to Say “It’s Time to End the Republican War on Health Care”

Local Health Care Advocates Join Protect Our Care to Call for an End to GOP Attacks on Wisconsinites’ Health Care

State Sen. LaTonya Johnson speaks in Milwaukee.

WISCONSIN – Today, Protect Our Care’s nationwide bus tour arrived in Wisconsin to call attention to the ongoing Republican war on health care. Joined by State Senators Chris Larson and LaTonya Johnson, State Representative Amanda Stuck, Assistant District Attorney Beau Liegeois, and cancer survivor Laura Packard, events in Milwaukee and Green Bay highlighted the actions Republicans are trying to harm Wisconsinites’ care and called on Attorney General Brad Schimel to work instead to protect our care.

“Not having health care is something that I know all too well. I didn’t have health care before being elected to the state legislature,” said LaTonya Johnson. “Six months after being sworn in, I was diagnosed with a tumor. Rather than being distraught about my medical diagnosis, I remember being so overly excited because I had health care – because had that happened six months earlier, I wouldn’t have gone to the doctor to find out what was wrong because I could not afford one more medical bill.

“Our Republican colleagues have done just about everything they can to sabotage the Affordable Care Act… It is time that we say enough is enough.”

State Senator Johnson’s comments were echoed by State Senator Larson and State Representative Stuck.

“Everyone has a health care story,” said Sen. Larson, who explained his inability to get coverage as a young man with asthma and the constant attacks Republicans have undertaken on those with pre-existing conditions. “Now that we’ve called them out on eliminating the vital protection that is ensuring people with pre-existing conditions get covered, now they’re saying, We’ll catch you, trust us. I don’t know about you, but I for one sure as hell don’t believe them, and I’m not willing to bet my life, my family’s life, my constituents’ life or the lives of my Wisconsin neighbors on it. That’s why we’re here. Unlike Attorney General Schimel and State Senator Vukmir, we want to make sure that no Wisconsinite ever has to lie in bed worrying about their health care and what tomorrow might bring.”

State Rep. Amanda Stuck speaks in front of Care Force One in Green Bay.

“This bill was a savior for so many people and made a difference in so many lives,” said Rep. Stuck about the ACA. “I’ve never had one constituent write or call me to say, Please take away my health care… We should be moving forward, looking at how we can cover more people, not going back in time.”

The stakes of the bus tour were made clear by Packard.

“I’m alive because of the Affordable Care Act,” said Packard. “I’m a stage four cancer survivor and I’m on this tour to defend our attacks against the GOP. President Trump may have blocked me on Twitter, but he can’t stop me and the American people from fighting to protect our care.”

State Senators Johnson and Larson, State Representative Stuck, and Packard were joined by Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action Wisconsin, who discussed the difficulties in obtaining care before the ACA was signed into law; Scott Trindl, who spoke of living with a pre-existing and what would happen if the lawsuit Attorney General Schimel is on seeking to overturn the law succeeds; and Assistant District Attorney Beau Liegeois, who spoke about the Republican health care sabotage campaign and what health repeal would mean for Wisconsinites.

At today’s events, Wisconsin residents, health care advocates, elected officials, and members of Protect Our Care detailed the numbers ways in which Republicans have attacked health care, and how these actions have cut coverage and increased costs for Wisconsinites. Because of the Republican repeal-and-sabotage agenda:

  • Wisconsinites will see their premiums rise by an average of 3.5 percent next year. It’s expected that 40 year old Wisconsinites would face paying an extra $1,450 for marketplace coverage in 2019 because of sabotage of the ACA.
  • In Wisconsin, out of pocket costs for older people could have increased by as much as $12,249 by 2026 if the House-passed American Health Care Act had become law.
  • More than 80,000 Wisconsinites have been denied access to affordable health coverage through Republican state officials’ refusal to expand Medicaid.
  • 216,000 Wisconsinites who have obtained health insurance through the ACA marketplace could lose their coverage if a judge sides with Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, President Trump and the GOP in their lawsuit; and protections for 2.4 million Wisconsinites living with a pre-existing condition would be in jeopardy.
  • Hundreds of billions of dollars have been cut from Medicare.
  • Dozens of hospitals in rural areas, including Franciscan Skemp Medical Center (2011) in Wisconsin, have closed exacerbating the care and coverage gaps that exist for families in America’s rural communities.
  • Brad Schimel is a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act who has vowed to try to repeal the law. Although he claims to support protections for people with pre-existing conditions, Schimel was one of the first state attorneys general to join lawsuit that would roll back that coverage and eliminate the protections for pre-existing conditions that exist in the ACA. Schimel’s participation in the suit puts the health of the 2.4 million Wisconsinites living with a pre-existing condition at risk and would take us back to the days when insurers routinely denied coverage or charged unaffordable premiums to people with pre-existing conditions, including cancer, asthma, and hypertension.
  • Leah Vukmir supports a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Vukmir also supports the Trump administration’s lawsuit that could cause as many as 2.4 million Wisconsinites with a pre-existing condition to lose their care, calling it a “necessary step.

 

Tomorrow, “Care Force One” will head to Madison, where Protect Our Care will be joined by Mayor Paul Soglin, former State Representative Mandela Barnes, and State Representative Christine Taylor. For more information, please visit protectourcarebustour.com.

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