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American Health Care Act

ashoup
In News, Capitol Hill

Good Riddance to the Least Successful, Most Anti-Health Care Speaker in American History

Washington, D.C. – This afternoon, Speaker Paul Ryan will give his farewell address at the Library of Congress. Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care, issued the following statement in response:

“Paul Ryan sat around a keg in college and dreamed of slashing Medicaid, tried to end Medicare as we know it as a Budget chairman, and tried to rip health care away from 23 million people by repealing the Affordable Care Act as Speaker of the House. As he leaves Washington, voters and legislatures across the country are expanding Medicaid; the public overwhelmingly rejected Ryan’s vouchers to upend Medicare, with the discussion today about how to strengthen and expand the program rather than end it; and despite his best efforts to repeal health care, kick tens of millions of people off of their coverage and end protections for those with pre-existing conditions, the ACA is more popular than ever, repeal went down in flames, and the Ryan-led effort to upend the American health care system swept his party from power in the House. There is no finer karma. Paul Ryan is perhaps the most anti-health care Speaker in American history – fortunately for the American people he was also the least successful and least competent. Good riddance.”

ashoup
In News, Capitol Hill

Paul Ryan Latest Republican to Call for Return to Health Care Repeal

Last night, Paul Ryan became the latest Republican to call for a return to full health repeal:

Paul Ryan: Good reforms mean that we can better fulfill the mission of these important programs, health and retirement security, without bankrupting the country. And that’s why the kind of reforms we’ve been talking about I think are so necessary.

Jeff Mayers: Ok, but that would depend upon – I mean, the Senate didn’t even agree with you. That would depend on having broader control of Congress than you’ve had.

Ryan: We failed to pass our budget, our entitlement reform bill on health care by one vote in the Senate, that’s correct.

Mayers: So I guess what are the prospects of reigning that in, because –

Ryan: I think the election will have to determine that because, based upon our vote count in the Senate. We keep the House majority in the house, which I think we will, and then you have to have enough of a majority in the Senate to be able to pass heath care reform.

Mayers: But do people in Janesville, do people in Wisconsin – is that what they want? Do they really want their benefits taken away or curtailed?

Ryan: Did I say that?

Mayers: No, I know, but do they –

Ryan: I think they want to see an end to double-digit premium increases. I think they want to see that we have Medicare on a path to solvency. I don’t think they want to see 200 million people get added to Medicare to accelerate its bankruptcy, which is what a lot of people are running for, like Tammy and others. I think if you take a look at our proposals, they would have lowered health care premiums, it would have still protected pre-existing conditions, it would’ve done more to give people more choices.

As a reminder, the so-called American Health Care Act would have:

  • Raised Premiums By Double Digits. ​The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that a key part of the American Health Care Act, repealing the requirement that most people have health insurance and was enacted as part of the GOP tax bill, will premiums 10 percent next year.
  • Imposed An Age Tax – Older Americans Would Have Paid Nearly $12,000 More. ​The American Health Care Act would have imposed what the AARP calls an “age tax” on older Americans by cutting the amount of assistance older people receive and by allowing insurers to charge people over 50 fives times more. Nationally, out-of-pocket costs for older people could have increased by as much as $11,917 by 2026.
  • Increased Premiums for People With Pre-Existing Conditions by Up to $150,000. ​The American Health Care Act would have allowed states to eliminate community rating, meaning insurers would be able to charge people with pre-existing conditions more. This surcharge could have been in the tens of thousands of dollars and even six figures: up to $4,270 for asthma, $17,060 for pregnancy, $26,180 for rheumatoid arthritis and $140,510 for metastatic cancer.
  • 23 Million Americans Would Have Lost Coverage. ​By 2026, 23 million U.S. residents would have lost coverage under this bill.
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