Washington, D.C. – Today, the Senate will be taking a vote on a resolution led by Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) to overturn Trump’s so-called “Marketplace Integrity and Affordability” rule. Issued by Trump’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this rule would jack up premiums and out-of-pocket costs on hard-working Americans, allow insurers to provide skimpier coverage, and introduce additional barriers to working families who rely on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces for affordable coverage. Coming on the heels of the Trump-GOP’s January 1st premium hikes, this callous rule will exacerbate the Republican health care affordability crisis that millions of Americans are reeling from.
“If Trump left his Mar-a-Lago ivory tower, he would see the real-world devastation of the Trump-GOP health care affordability crisis,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “Small businesses are shuttering what they’ve invested tens of thousands of dollars building because the Trump-GOP premium hikes are simply unbearable for them and their employees. Parents are sitting around the kitchen table, being forced to make gut-wrenching, impossible decisions because the Trump-GOP premium hikes have made health care unaffordable. If Thune and Senate Republicans don’t reverse this rule by voting for this resolution, they’ll be deliberately exacerbating the health care affordability crisis they’ve plunged the nation into. And they will have no one to blame but themselves when voters deliver a blistering rebuke at the ballot box this November.”
Background:
In June, the Trump administration issued a final rule to shorten the Affordable Care Act enrollment period and add miles of red tape to prevent hard-working Americans from obtaining affordable coverage. If Trump’s HHS succeeds in court, up to 2 million people will lose coverage – on top of the 14 million Americans set to lose their health care due from the GOP’s Big, Ugly bill and ripping away of tax credits that help working families afford care.
The rule would:
- Raise costs for millions of families by changing the actuarial formulas that determine premiums, out-of-pocket costs, and deductibles
- Make it harder for families to enroll in ACA plans by shortening the enrollment period
- Eliminate low-income families’ ability to sign up for coverage outside of the six-week enrollment period
- Establish more paperwork burdens for enrolling and give people less time to provide documentation
- Target vulnerable communities that have historically faced barriers to accessing health care