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

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary Nebraska rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential premium increases as high as 3.7 percent due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, 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 sabotage health care and now families in Nebraska are paying the price in increased premiums. Costs are going up for hardworking Nebraskans, but the Republican tax bill gave insurance companies its record tax breaks and soaring profits. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should stand up to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign and start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable.”

Insurance Companies In Nebraska Blame the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans for Higher Premiums:

Medica: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate And Embrace Of Short-Term Plans Driving Up Rates. “The significant factors driving the proposed rate increase primarily include: Market morbidity that is more adverse than what was assumed in the current rates… Medica is assuming a change in the population risk morbidity from the experience period to the projection period of [redacted.] This adjustment reflects the anticipated change in claim costs outside the underlying demographics of the covered population. In developing this factor, market membership attrition, the impact of repealing the individual mandate, as well as the impact of both short‐term limited duration plans and association health plans were all taken into account.” [Medica, accessed 8/3]

Why Nebraskans’ 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 sabotage our health care every chance they get – leading insurance companies to raise premiums for 2018 and 2019 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 Nebraska forecast 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 Nebraska, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 35 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

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.

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 51 percent in Nebraska.

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 Nebraska by an average 20.4 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.

Despite Republican sabotage, the Affordable Care Act has improved Nebraskans’ care.

88,213 Nebraskans signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace, Nebraska’s uninsured rate fell by 2.4 percent between 2013 and 2016 as Nebraskans have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that Nebraska premiums for 2019 could rise 20.4 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 92 percent of Nebraska Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $63 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income Nebraskans could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

Nebraskans 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.

KEY QUOTES

America’s Health Insurance Plans: Administration’s DOJ Decision Would “Cause Rates To Go Even Higher For Older Americans And Sicker Patients.” “Zeroing out the individual mandate penalty should not result in striking important consumer protections, such as guaranteed issue and community rating rules that help those with pre-existing conditions. Removing those provisions will result in renewed uncertainty in the individual market, create a patchwork of requirements in the states, cause rates to go even higher for older Americans and sicker patients, and make it challenging to introduce products and rates for 2019. Instead, we should focus on advancing proven solutions that ensure affordability for all consumers. [AHIP, 6/8/18]

Associated Press: Administration’s Decision Could “Nudge Premiums Even Higher.” “The Trump administration’s decision to stop defending in court the Obama health law’s popular protections for consumers with pre-existing conditions could prove risky for Republicans in the midterm elections — and nudge premiums even higher.” [CNBC, 6/8/18]

Timothy Jost, Washington & Lee University Law Professor: Administration’s Decision Could Leave Millions Of Americans Facing “Denial Of Coverage Or Higher Premiums.” “Yesterday, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice dropped a bombshell in a rural Texas federal courthouse. The administration stated in a court filing (and also in letters to Congressional leaders) that it would not defend three key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If the judge in the case agrees, millions of Americans with preexisting conditions could face denial of coverage or higher premiums.” [Commonwealth Fund, 6/8/18]

Ceci Connolly, Alliance Of Community Health Plans: Administration’s Decision Decision Could Spark Fresh Market Instability. “Ceci Connolly, president of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, called the legal position ‘troubling’ and warned it could spark fresh market instability. ‘At the very least it adds uncertainty at exactly the moment when plans are trying to set rates for next year,’ Connolly said in a statement. ‘At the worst, it could strip away guaranteed coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. We don’t want to return to the days when people who needed the care the most could be turned away because of their health status.’” [Modern Healthcare, 6/8/18]

Fortune: If Administration’s Decision Is Implemented, “There’s A Strong Change Insurers Would Begin Charging Sicker People Significantly More.” “To date, many low-income people have been shielded from those increases since federal subsidies to help pay premiums rise in tandem with the spikes. Middle-class families who don’t qualify for the subsidies are left either swallowing the higher premiums or forgoing coverage. If the protections for people with pre-existing conditions are ultimately shot down, there’s a strong chance insurers would begin charging sicker people significantly more for their coverage while younger and healthier Americans would see lower prices.” [Fortune, 6/11/18]

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]

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]

Cynthia Cox, Kaiser Family Foundation: “In The Absence Of Efforts To Undermine The Market, We Would Be Seeing A Period Of Relatively Small Premium Increases.” “‘In the absence of efforts to undermine the market, we would be seeing a period of relatively small premium increases, driven mostly by the underlying growth in health care costs,’ said Cynthia Cox, the lead author of the Kaiser Family Foundation report. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re in for another year of double-digit premium increases. And if that does happen, it would be in large part due to policy changes that are happening.’” [Huffington Post, 5/18/18]

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.” Kris Haltmeyer, a vice president at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, told reporters that the premium increases were in part due to the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate in the Republican tax reform bill in December. He also cited lawmakers’ failure to pass a bill aimed at shoring up the market, which fell apart earlier this year amid a partisan dispute over abortion restrictions. ‘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. He estimated that average premium increases nationwide will be in the ‘low teens,’ but that there will be major variation across areas, ranging from the low single digits to up to 70 or 80 percent.” [The Hill, 5/23]

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]

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]

Center For American Progress: “Combined, The Recent Tax Law’s Repeal Of The Individual Mandate And The Administration’s Short-Term Plan Rule Will Undermine The Individual Insurance Market And Increase Premiums For ACA-Compliant Coverage.” “Last year, as part of the tax law, Congress eliminated the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate penalty. Given the mandate’s important role in encouraging healthier people to enroll in the marketplaces, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that, in 2019, this will increase average premiums in the individual market by 10 percent. Furthermore, in February 2018, the Trump administration proposed a rule to expand short-term health insurance plans… Along with the repeal of the individual mandate penalty, this expansion of short-term plans will drive up average premiums for ACA-compliant coverage in the individual market. Recent preliminary rate filings in Virginia demonstrate that these actions are contributing to significant premium increases for marketplace coverage in 2019. In fact, some Virginia insurers specifically cited the individual mandate repeal and short-term plan rule as major factors in their rate filings… Combined, the recent tax law’s repeal of the individual mandate and the administration’s short-term plan rule will undermine the individual insurance market and increase premiums for ACA-compliant coverage.” [CAP, 5/18]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary North Carolina rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential premium increases as high as 8.4 percent due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, 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 sabotage health care and now families in North Carolina are paying the price in increased premiums. Costs are going up for hardworking North Carolinians, but the Republican tax bill gave insurance companies its record tax breaks and soaring profits. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should stand up to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign and start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable.”

Insurance Companies In North Carolina Blame the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans for Higher Premiums:

Blue Cross Blue Shield: “Destabilizing Federal Policy” Responsible For Rate Hikes. “The primary drivers of the rate adjustment are: Destabilizing Federal Health Policy, including the repeal of the Individual Mandate effective 1/1/2019, and expansion of Short Term Limited Duration products. These policies are expected to result in a large number of healthy individuals leaving the market in 2019.” [BCBS, 5/21]

Cigna: GOP’s Repeal Of Individual Mandate And Embrace Of Short-Term Plans Driving Up Rates. “The non-grandfathered individual market has continued to evolve since the inception of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), such as… the elimination of the individual mandate tax penalty … anticipated changes to regulations regarding Short Term Medical and Association Health Plans, and many other provisions. After consideration for expected risk adjustment transfers, the single risk pool experience for CHC of NC in North Carolina was more adverse than assumed in the current rates. As a result, CHC of NC’s best estimate of the average market-wide morbidity of the covered population has increased compared to 2018.” [Cigna, accessed 8/3]

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

Now, initial rate filings in North Carolina forecast 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. In North Carolina, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 38 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

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 North Carolina by an average 17.8 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 North Carolinians’ Care.

519,803 North Carolinians signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace, North Carolina’s uninsured rate fell by 5 percent between 2013 and 2016 as North Carolinians have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that North Carolina premiums for 2019 could rise 17.8 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 90 percent of North Carolina Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $82 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income North Carolinians could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

North Carolinians 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.

KEY QUOTES

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

ashoup In News, Administration

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

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary Oklahoma rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential premium increases as high as 6.4 percent due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, 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 sabotage health care and now families in Oklahoma are paying the price in increased premiums. Costs are going up for hardworking Oklahomans, but the Republican tax bill gave insurance companies its record tax breaks and soaring profits. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should stand up to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign and start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable.”

Insurance Companies In Oklahoma Blame the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans for Higher Premiums:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate And Embrace Of Short-Term Plans Driving Rates Up. “The proposed rate increases are based primarily on the following factors… Anticipated change in the morbidity of the market wide population, which includes the repeal of the individual mandate penalty and the sale of short term limited duration products up to 364 days.” [BCBS, accessed 8/3]

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

Now, initial rate filings in Oklahoma forecast 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. In Oklahoma, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 33 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

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.

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 Oklahoma by an average 18.7 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.

Despite Republican sabotage, the Affordable Care Act has improved Oklahomans’ care.

140,184 Oklahomans signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace, Oklahoma’s uninsured rate fell by 5.7 percent between 2013 and 2016 as Oklahomans have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that Oklahoma premiums for 2019 could rise 18.7 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 91 percent of Oklahoma Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $37 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income Oklahomans could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

Oklahomans 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.

KEY QUOTES

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

ashoup In News, Administration

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

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary South Carolina rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential premium increases as high as 9.3 percent due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, 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 sabotage health care and now families in South Carolina are paying the price in increased premiums. Costs are going up for hardworking South Carolinians, but the Republican tax bill gave insurance companies its record tax breaks and soaring profits. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should stand up to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign and start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable.”

Insurance Companies in South Carolina Blame the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans for Higher Premiums:

Sanford: GOP Repeal Of The Individual Mandate Driving Up Rates. “A rate change is needed to account for the medical trend, as well as revisions to the following price assumptions… Removal of the individual market mandate penalty in 2019.” [Sanford, 6/19]

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

Now, initial rate filings in South Carolina forecast 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. In South Carolina, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 29 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

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.

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 South Carolina by an average 17.2 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.

Despite Republican sabotage, the Affordable Care Act has improved South Carolinians’ care.

215,983 South Carolinians signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace, South Carolina’s uninsured rate fell by 8.1 percent between 2013 and 2016 as South Carolinians have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that South Carolina premiums for 2019 could rise 17.2 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 89 percent of South Carolina Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $82 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income South Carolinians could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

South Carolinians 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.

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

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary South Dakota rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential premium increases as high as 10.44 percent due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, 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 sabotage health care and now families in South Dakota are paying the price in increased premiums. Costs are going up for hardworking South Dakotans, but the Republican tax bill gave insurance companies its record tax breaks and soaring profits. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should stand up to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign and start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable.”

Insurance Companies In South Dakota Blame the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans for Higher Premiums:

Sanford: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate Driving Up Rates. “A rate change is needed to account for medical trend, as well as revisions to the following pricing assumptions… Removal of the individual mandate penalty in 2019.” [Sanford, 6/19]

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

Now, initial rate filings in South Dakota 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. In South Dakota, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 0 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

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 South Dakota by an average 21.7 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 South Dakotans’ care.

29,652 South Dakotans signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace, South Dakota’s uninsured rate fell by 2.2 percent between 2013 and 2016 as South Dakotans have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that South Dakota premiums for 2019 could rise 21.7 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 91 percent of South Dakota Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $113 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income South Dakotans could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

South Dakotans 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.

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

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary Utah rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential premium increases as high as 16.51 percent due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, 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 sabotage health care and now families in Utah are paying the price in increased premiums. Costs are going up for hardworking Utahns, but the Republican tax bill gave insurance companies its record tax breaks and soaring profits. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should stand up to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign and start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable.”

Insurance Companies In Utah Blame the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans for Higher Premiums:

Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Utah: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate Driving Up Rates. “The following components are significant factors contributing to the proposed rate change: healthcare inflation and utilization increases and changes in taxes and fees, and anticipated changes in market‐wide average morbidity… The Individual market is expected to contract due to weakening of the federal mandate to have health insurance. This will lead to greater market‐wide average morbidity.” [BCBS, accessed 8/3]

BridgeSpan: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate Driving Up Rates. “A key driver of the expected morbidity change between the base period and projection period is the expected contraction of the ACA Individual market in Utah. The reduction in market size is driven by a weakened federal mandate to have health insurance coverage and the relative cost of purchasing coverage.” [BridgeSpan, accessed 8/3]

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

Now, initial rate filings in Utah 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. In Utah, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 0 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

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.

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 Utah by an average 18.5 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.

Despite Republican sabotage, the Affordable Care Act has improved Utahns’ care.

194,118 Utahns signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that Utah premiums for 2019 could rise 18.5 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 88 percent of Utah Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $58 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income Utahns could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

Utahns 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.

KEY QUOTES

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]

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

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

Washington, D.C. – As preliminary Texas rate filings for 2019 individual-market health insurance indicated potential premium increases as high as 35 percent due to Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage agenda, Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, 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 sabotage health care and now families in Texas are paying the price in increased premiums. Costs are going up for hardworking Texans, but the Republican tax bill gave insurance companies its record tax breaks and soaring profits. Until we stop Republicans’ war on health care, health care experts predict that rates will keep rising by double digits. Washington Republicans should stand up to the Trump Administration’s sabotage campaign and start working on bipartisan solutions to make coverage more affordable.”

Insurance Companies In Texas Blame the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans for Higher Premiums:

Molina Health Care: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate Driving Up Rates. “Reason for Rate Increase(s): Molina identified the following factors contributing to the overall increase in Molina’s proposed rates… Individual Mandate: The individual mandate penalty will not be enforced for the 2019 plan year, resulting in younger and healthier members dropping coverage.” [Molina, 7/23]

Sendero: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate Driving Up Rates. “Due to the Individual Mandate no longer being enforced, we are assuming that overall market morbidity will increase as healthy members choose to forgo coverage, which will leave, on average, sicker members enrolled in the medical plans. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that premiums in 2019 will increase by 10% as a result of the Individual Mandate’s no longer being enforced. The morbidity adjustment factor assumed is shown in Column 5 of Appendix A.” [Sendero, 6/1]

Vista360Health: GOP Repeal Of Individual Mandate Driving Up Rates. “We applied a 2.0% adjustment to account for an increase in individual market morbidity resulting from the repeal of the individual mandate in 2018.” [Vista360, 7/20]

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

Now, initial rate filings in Texas 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. In Texas, no short-term plans available have to cover maternity care, and only 28 percent of plans cover prescription drugs.

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.

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 Texas by an average 20.2 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.

Despite Republican sabotage, the Affordable Care Act has improved Texans’ care.

1,126,838 Texans signed up for Marketplace coverage this year.
Thanks to the Marketplace, Texas’s uninsured rate fell by 5.7 percent between 2013 and 2016 as Texans have gained access to affordable coverage.
Before today’s announcement, the Urban Institute predicted that Texas premiums for 2019 could rise 20.2 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 86 percent of Texas Marketplace consumers, whose average 2018 premium is $79 per month.
But because of the Republican sabotage agenda, many middle-income Texans could pay hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they would have otherwise.

Texans 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.

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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Cities Sue Trump Administration Over ACA Sabotage

Yesterday, four cities — Baltimore, Chicago, Columbus, and Cincinnati— filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for intentionally sabotaging the Affordable Care Act.

Here’s how the lawsuit has been received nationally:

NBC News: Suit Seeks To Force Trump To Adopt Policies To Expand Rather Than Shrink Enrollment. “The suit seeks to force Trump to adopt policies intended to expand rather than shrink enrollment; reduce rather than increase premiums; and promote instead of attack the ACA. Among the specific rules plaintiffs seek to reverse are allowing exchanges to strip individuals of tax credits without notification and reducing oversight of insurance agents and brokers, as well as oversight of the law in general.” [NBC News, 8/2/18]

Fortune: “Trump Broke Constitutional Law By Attacking Obamacare, Lawsuit Says.” “Since Congress failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act last year, President Donald Trump has attempted to weaken the program through eliminating protections, discouraging enrollment, and driving up costs, the lawsuit argues. According to court filings, this directly violates a clause in the U.S. constitution, which states the president and their administration must ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’” [Fortune, 8/2/18]

Esquire: “Consequences Be Damned.”: “[T]he administration’s ongoing attempt to sabotage the Affordable Care Act has led folks into interesting places. For example, four cities are now suing the president on the grounds that, in the case of the ACA, the president is in violation of his oath of office, and of Article II of the Constitution…The lawsuit got some ammunition on Thursday when the Brookings Institute released a study concluding that insurance premiums would have gone downhad the president and his party simply allowed the law to work.”

The Hill: Four Cities File Lawsuit Saying Administration’s Sabotage of ACA Violates Constitution. “The cities of Baltimore, Chicago, Columbus and Cincinnati filed the lawsuit in federal court in Maryland, arguing that Trump’s actions against the Affordable Care Act violate the Constitution’s provision that the president ‘shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.’ The lawsuit points to a range of administration actions in arguing its case, including that it expanded insurance options that do not comply with the health-care law’s rules, that it cut funding for outreach to help people sign up for coverage, and that it shortened the sign-up period for ObamaCare.” [The Hill, 8/2/18]

Talking Points Memo: Cities Cite Trump Effort To Ways Trump Has “Depressed Health Insurance Enrollment And Driven Up Costs For Both Individuals And Taxpayers. “Cities filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing the Trump administration of violating the “Take Care” clause of the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act by chipping away at the Affordable Care Act in ways that have depressed health insurance enrollment and driven up costs for both individuals and taxpayers.” [Talking Points Memo, 8/2/18]

What experts have to say:

Andy Slavitt, Former Administrator of CMS: The ACA Lawsuit Will Be Yet Another Test Of The Rule Of Law For A President Who Seems To Have Very Little Regard For Those Constraints.” “The ACA lawsuit will be yet another test of the rule of law for a president who seems to have very little regard for those constraints. It coincides with two major political events that highlight the issues at stake. First up is Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearing, where he will be questioned extensively about his views on the limits of presidential authority. Then, fewer than 100 days away, are midterm elections that will put the ACA front and center; polls show access to health care is a top item on voters’ minds.” [USA Today, 8/2/18]

Abbe Gluck, Yale Law Professor: “If There’s Ever Going To Be A Violation Of The ‘Take Care’ Clause, This Is It.” “This case stands apart from all others, says Abbe Gluck, a Yale University law professor and expert on Article II, because it’s not about the extent to which Trump is “faithfully” implementing a law. Rather Trump has been frank that he is sabotaging the law, she said. ‘That’s what makes this case novel, first of its kind and really important,’ Gluck said. ‘No scholar or court has ever said the president can use his discretion to implement a statute to purposely destroy it…If there’s ever going to be a violation of the ‘take care’ clause, this is it,’ she said.” [NBC News, 8/2/18]

Abbe Gluck: “It Is Impossible To Recall A President Who Has Been As Clear About His Intent To Sabotage A Major Federal Law As This President Has Been About His Intent With Respect To The ACA.” “Historically, making the case for a violation of the take care clause has been a tall order because the executive is often vested with broad discretion to implement the law. But it is impossible to recall a president who has been as clear about his intent to sabotage a major federal law as this president has been about his intent with respect to the ACA.” [Vox, 7/23/18]

And here’s how cities have reported the news:

WCPO Cincinnati: Cincinnati Says Trump Administration Sabotage Is Costing City. “That’s costing the cities more money to pay for services that provide medical care to those who are uninsured or underinsured. In Cincinnati, for example, the city health department subsidizes various health centers with an annual budget of $23 million. The number of uninsured patients who visited those centers already increased by 11 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to the lawsuit.” [WCPO Cincinnati, 8/2/18]

Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Citing How Much Sabotage Is Costing City, Leads Suit Against Trump Administration Over Affordable Care Act. “Dismantling the Affordable Care Act will directly affect the city’s budget because it will result in more uninsured Americans, [Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein] said. The city provides about $4.3 million a year to Primary One, a federally qualified health center that Klein said has seen 3,000 more uninsured patients in the past year. It also will hit the city’s fire department, which takes about 132,000 medic runs a year. The city seeks to recoup costs from insurance companies if the patient has insurance, typically recovering about 40 to 80 percent of its costs, Klein said. For uninsured patients, the city sends a bill but doesn’t send unpaid bills to collections, he said. For uninsured patients, the recovery drops to an average of 4 percent.” [Columbus Dispatch, 8/2/18]

Columbus Resident, Denise Jacobs, Depends On ACA For Life Supporting Drugs. “Denise Jacobs is one of the people in Columbus that Klein says received help from the ACA. Jacobs was diagnosed with intersitial lung disease, and after many medical treatments and a lung transplant, she now uses anti-rejection drugs to help with her transplant. Jacobs says she’s worried about what the end of Obamacare may do to people like her. ‘Some people like me may have trouble affording their life supporting drugs,’ says Jacobs.” [WOOSU, 8/2/18]

Baltimore Mayor Emphasizes Cost Of Sabotage On Baltimore. “[Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh] said the Baltimore City Fire Department treated 17,000 people last year who did not have health insurance. ‘As a result, you know, that’s uncompensated care and we’ve got to take care of individuals. We don’t turn people away from our hospitals, we try to take care of them. This is a cost the city cannot afford to bear,’ Pugh said.” [WBAL TV, 8/2/18]

Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago Joins Lawsuit, Highlights Burden Of Trump Sabotage On Chicago. “An increase in the number of uninsured or under-insured residents would ‘force Chicago to pay more to operate and subsidize’ public health clinics and put a greater strain and ‘unrecouped costs’ on the Chicago Fire Department’s newly-expanded fleet of 80 ambulances, the city contends.” [Chicago Sun-Times, 8/2/18]

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Senate Democrats Stand Up for People with Pre-Existing Conditions

All Senators Should Tell Us Whose Side They Are On: Insurance Companies, or Consumers

Washington, D.C. – One day after the Trump Administration announced the expansion of junk plans that raise marketplace premiums and eliminate key protections under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Senate Democrats introduced a measure to overturn the regulation under the Congressional Review Act. In response, Protect Our Care chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:

“These junk insurance plans are just that: they’re junk. They raise marketplace premiums, they don’t cover you if you’ve been sick, or if you get sick, they sometimes don’t cover basic health care services, like prescription drugs, and they discriminate against women and people over 50 by charging them more or denying coverage for pregnancy and maternity care. We applaud Senate Democrats for standing up to the Trump Administration, which took its summer of sabotage to a new level by expanding these junk plans that give more power back to insurance companies at a time when they’re raking in record profits. It is time for every Senator to show whose side they are on: that of insurance companies, or that of the American people.”

BACKGROUND

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “We must continue to prohibit insurers from discriminating against pre-existing conditions.” [Murkowski Remarks to Alaska State Legislature, 2/22/17]

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME): “My concern is to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions.” [Letter to Attorney General, 6/27/18]

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ): “The last thing we need to happen is to have people who have coverage now, to have that coverage that coverage yanked out from under them. Every plan that has been put forward that I will support continues to support those with pre-existing conditions having continued coverage. That’s important.” [Town Hall, 12:40-13:10, 4/13/2017]

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “Everybody I know in the Senate — everybody — is in favor of maintaining coverage for pre-existing conditions.” [Politico, 6/12/18]

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New Study, New Rate Filings Confirm Widespread Premium Increases Are Due to GOP Sabotage

Brookings Study and Health Care Premium Hikes Show Americans Across the Country Left Holding the Bill

New Data Makes Lawsuit Filed Today Against Trump All the More Urgent

Washington, D.C – This morning, the Brookings Institution released a new analysis showing premiums would be going down for Americans absent Trump-GOP health care sabotage, all while insurance companies’ profits soar. It comes out as the Trump administration has greenlit junk insurance plans that skirt protections for people with pre-existing conditions and a new lawsuit filed in federal court shows the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional sabotage is responsible for raising Americans’ premiums.

Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care, released the following statement in response:

“People buying health insurance in America today are paying more for it than they should because of the relentless — and unconstitutional — sabotage campaign by the Trump Administration and its Republican allies in Congress and the states. People who are seeing substantial premium increases are paying more than they should and the people seeing small rate decreases should be paying even less. The fact that Americans are paying more because of Trump’s sabotage when insurance companies are getting massive tax breaks and their profits and CEO salaries are soaring — and projected by this report to skyrocket even further — is outrageous, and underscores why millions are fed up with this Republican war on health care, and why it’s so important that cities and citizens are taking Trump to court today.”

AMERICANS PAYING MORE DUE TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S SABOTAGE CAMPAIGN:

In nearly nearly every state where data is available, premium rates are higher because of Trump-GOP sabotage than they otherwise would be. Insurance companies have requested insurance rate increases in 44 states.

Alabama: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 4 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 16.4 percent decrease without sabotage.
Alaska: preliminary rates indicate a seven percent decrease that would have been a 13.7 percent decrease without sabotage.
Arkansas: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 7.76 percent.
California: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 8.7 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 5.2 percent decrease without sabotage.
Colorado: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 21.6 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 5.1 percent decrease without sabotage.
Connecticut: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 12.3 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 7.4 percent decrease without sabotage.
Delaware: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 5.7 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 18 percent decrease without sabotage.
District of Columbia: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 19 percent.
Florida: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 8.8 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 2.5 percent decrease without sabotage.
Georgia: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 14.7 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 5.8 percent decrease without sabotage.
Hawaii: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 32 percent, but the state would have seen an overall four percent decrease without sabotage.
Idaho: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 24.55 percent.
Illinois: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 10.7 percent.
Indiana: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 5.1 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 7.9 percent decrease without sabotage.
Iowa: preliminary rates indicate an increase of not more than 5.6 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 5 percent decrease without sabotage.
Kansas: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 16.11 percent.
Kentucky: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 19.4 percent, but the state would have seen an overall .4 percent decrease without sabotage.
Maine: final rates indicate proposed increases as high as 9.5 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 9 percent decrease without sabotage.
Maryland: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 30.2 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 24 percent decrease without sabotage.
Massachusetts: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 13.33 percent.
Michigan: final rates indicate proposed increases as high as 11.1 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 3.4 percent decrease without sabotage.
Missouri: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 25 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 10 percent decrease without sabotage.
Montana: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 10.6 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 4 percent decrease without sabotage.
Nebraska: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 3.69 percent.
Nevada: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 30.2 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 24 percent decrease without sabotage.
New Jersey: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 5.7 percent.
New Mexico: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 18.5 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 6 percent decrease without sabotage.
New York: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 24 percent, with fully half of the increase due to sabotage.
North Carolina: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 8.14 percent, but the state would have seen an 8.1 percent decrease without sabotage.
North Dakota: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 29.33 percent.
Ohio: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 8.2 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 3 percent decrease without sabotage.
Oklahoma: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 6.1 percent.
Oregon: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 10.6 percent, but the state would have seen only an overall 1.7 percent increase without sabotage.
Pennsylvania: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 13.2 percent, but the state would have seen an overall 5.5 percent decrease without sabotage.
Rhode Island: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 10.7 percent, with one point of this increase due to sabotage.
South Carolina: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 9.3 percent.
South Dakota: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 10.44 percent.
Tennessee: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 10.84 percent, but the state would have seen decrease as high as 21 percent without sabotage.
Texas: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 35.07 percent, but the state would have seen an overall decrease of 10.6 percent without sabotage.
Utah: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 16.51 percent.
Vermont: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 10.8 percent, but the state would have seen only an overall 3.5 percent increase without sabotage.
Virginia: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 64.3 percent, but the state would have seen only an overall 1.7 percent increase without sabotage.
Washington: preliminary rates indicate an average overall statewide increase of 19.08 percent, with much of this increase attributed to sabotage.
West Virginia: preliminary rates indicate proposed increases as high as 23.85 percent.

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