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ashoup
In Stories, Administration, News

Ex-Secretary Tom Price: Trump and GOP Responsible For Upcoming Rate Hikes

Washington, D.C. – In response to former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s comments this morning to the World Health Care Congress that Republicans’ TrumpTax bill and its individual mandate repeal will increase Americans’ health care costs, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“Today, President Trump’s own former HHS secretary, Tom Price, admitted that the Republican tax bill’s sabotage of the Affordable Care Act will increase health care costs. Ex-Secretary Price has confirmed that President Trump and Congressional Republicans chose a trillion-dollar tax break for corporations and the wealthiest at the expense of hardworking Americans’ health care. Months ago when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the TrumpTax would raise premiums by ten percent while kicking millions of Americans off of their coverage, Republican senators responded by accusing CBO of bias and dismissing their findings. Now, one of the Trump Administration’s lead saboteurs has admitted the truth. Americans now have it straight from Tom Price: Republicans are responsible for upcoming rate hikes.”

ashoup
In Administration, News

Medicaid Remains Key In Addressing Opioid Epidemic, Trump’s Repeal and Sabotage Agenda Sets Back Effort to Address the Crisis

As the White House continues to pay lip service regarding the need to address our nation’s growing opioid epidemic, its policy does the opposite — stripping resources from the very programs working to address the crisis.

The Trump Administration has relentlessly attacked and sabotaged Medicaid, which helps people with opioid addiction receive care, paying for one-fifth of all substance abuse treatment nationwide. Beyond slashing funds for Medicaid, Trump has also encouraged states to impose burdensome work requirements, mandating that Medicaid enrollees work a set amount of hours each week and jump through administrative hurdles to prove their employment status. Adding insult to injury, the Trump Administration has proposed a 95% cut to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is charged with coordinating the federal response to the nation’s raging opioid crisis – a cut proposed for the second year in a row.

These policies are counterproductive at best, cruel and life-threatening at worst. Medicaid has played a central role in responding to the opioid epidemic, and cutting access will only make it harder for states to address the crisis.

MEDICAID GIVES STATES MORE RESOURCES TO ADDRESS THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC

Medicaid Is A Sustainable Source Of Funding Compared To Short-Term Grants. “Now that more people with SUDs are eligible for Medicaid, states can significantly improve treatment for people with SUDs by improving Medicaid-covered services. Medicaid can be a sustainable funding source for providers, as opposed to capped, short-term grant funding.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/28/18]

Thanks To Medicaid Expansion, The Uninsured Rate For Opioid-Related Hospitalizations Dropped In Expansion States. “In Medicaid expansion states, the uninsured rate for opioid-related hospitalizations plummeted by 79 percent, from 13.4 percent in 2013 (the year before expansion implementation) to 2.9 percent in 2015.  The decline in non-expansion states was a much more modest 5 percent, from 17.3 percent in 2013 to 16.4 percent in 2015.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/28/18]

[Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/28/18]

MEDICAID EXPANSION HAS INCREASED ACCESS TO TREATMENT

Medicaid Helps Make Buprenorphine And Naloxone, Drugs Used To Treat Opioid Use Disorder, Affordable. “These data are consistent with other evidence that Medicaid expansion is improving access to care for people with opioid use and other substance use disorders. Medicaid makes medications like buprenorphine and naloxone, which are prescribed to combat opioid use disorders, affordable for beneficiaries.“ [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/28/18]

Medicaid Expansion Has Improved Access To Substance Treatment Services. “Evidence also suggests that Medicaid expansion improved access to substance use treatment services more broadly. After expanding Medicaid, Kentucky experienced a 700 percent increase in Medicaid beneficiaries using substance use treatment services.  Use of treatment services rose nationally as well; one study found that expanding Medicaid reduced the unmet need for substance use treatment by 18.3 percent.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/28/18]

In Ohio, Medicaid Has Helped Those With Substance Use Disorders Access Mental Health Services. “An Ohio study found that 59 percent of people with opioid-use disorders who had gained Medicaid coverage under expansion reported improved access to mental health care. Nationwide, the share of people forgoing mental health care due to cost fell by about one-third as the ACA, including Medicaid expansion, took effect.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/28/18]

THE REPUBLICAN CLAIM THAT MEDICAID CONTRIBUTED TO THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC IS FALSE

PolitiFact: “No evidence to prove Medicaid expansion is fueling the opioid crisis.” [PolitiFact, 10/23/17]

CBPP: States That Have Expanded Medicaid Have Reduced Unmet Need For Substance Abuse Treatment. “Expansion states have reduced the unmet need for the treatment of substance use disorders by 18 percent. All states’ Medicaid programs cover at least one medically assisted treatment medication, and the Medicaid expansion has granted health coverage to an estimated 99,000 people with an opioid use disorder.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 10/5/17]

Opioid Deaths In Medicaid Expansion States Predates The Affordable Care Act.  “The opioid epidemic started decades before Medicaid expanded … Expansion states did have relatively more drug deaths than non-expansion states in 2015, but the upward trend in deaths in expansion states started in 2010, four years before the Medicaid expansion began. The results are the same if we exclude the six early expansion states. By the simplest criterion for causality, that causes must precede effects, these results cannot be taken as evidence of Medicaid expansion causing these deaths.” [Health Affairs, 8/23/17]

Medicaid Is Part Of The Solution To Curbing Opioid Epidemic. “Medicaid is the most powerful vehicle available to states to fund coverage of prevention and treatment for their residents at risk for or actively battling opioid addiction….The greatest opportunity to address this crisis is in those states that have elected to expand Medicaid, given the greater reach of the program, additional tools available, and the increased availability of federal funds.” [State Health Reform Assistance Network, 7/16]

CDC: “There Is No Evidence Medicaid Leads To Opioid Abuse.” “The Republican argument is flawed because the Medicaid expansion began in 2014, and opioid addiction was declared an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011. The federal science agency has also said there is no evidence that Medicaid leads to opioid abuse.” [Newsweek, 1/17/18]

Vox: “This Claim Runs Into A Basic Problem: The Concept Of Time.” “But this claim runs into a basic problem: the concept of time. Medicaid didn’t expand under Obamacare until 2014 — well after opioid overdose deaths started rising (in the late 1990s), after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011 declared the crisis an epidemic, and as the crisis became more about illicit opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl, rather than conventional opioid painkillers. ‘It’s pretty ridiculous,’ Andrew Kolodny, an opioid policy expert at Brandeis University who’s scheduled to testify at the Senate hearing, told me.” [Vox, 1/17/18]

David Wyman, Georgetown University Law Center: “Just Because A Precedes B Doesn’t Mean That A Causes B. That’s Statistics 101.”  “The witnesses included one anti-Medicaid ideologue, two local prosecutors who testified that they’ve seen a lot of addicts in their work and lots of them seem to be on Medicaid, and two experts who, tactlessly, pointed out that the causes of the opioid epidemic are many and complex, that it started years before Medicaid expansion, and that it involves patients and doctors in Medicare and private insurance as well as the uninsured… Efforts to demonize Medicaid expansion because it was launched as the opioid crisis really took off confuse correlation with causation, David Hyman of the Georgetown University Law Center warned Johnson’s committee. ‘Just because A precedes B doesn’t mean that A causes B,’ he said. ‘That’s statistics 101.’” [Los Angeles Times, 1/17/18]

Katherine Baicker, University Of Chicago Harris School Of Public Policy Dean: “I Don’t Think Anybody Would Suggest Because Overprescribing Of Opioids Poses A Series Health Risk, People Shouldn’t Go See The Doctor.” “If [Republicans] argue against Medicaid based on the idea that it potentially allows more patients to get prescriptions for opioids, they could use that same reasoning to oppose expansion of private health insurance. Expanding health insurance of any variety increases people’s access to health care. Much of that care is beneficial; some may not be, Katherine Baicker, dean of the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, told me. ‘I don’t think anybody would suggest because overprescribing of opioids poses a series health risk, people shouldn’t go see the doctor,’ Baicker said.” [Washington Post, 1/17/18]

THOSE WHO ARE MOST FAMILIAR WITH THE OPIOID CRISIS AGREE THAT MEDICAID IS CRUCIAL IN FIGHTING IT

A Panel Of Public Health Officials, Policy Experts, And Law Enforcement Officials Found Medicaid Among Most Important Programs In Combating Opioid Epidemic. Investing in Medicaid was the third most cited response when a panel of thirty experts were asked where they would put money to combat the opioid epidemic. [New York Times, 2/14/18]

Jay Unick, University Professor: Medicaid Expansion Is Most Important Intervention To Improve Opioid Epidemic. Medicaid expansion would be “the most important intervention for improving outcomes related to the opiate epidemic…all the other interventions discussed here only work if individuals have access to quality health care.” [New York Times, 2/14/18]

160 National, State, and Local Organizations Warn That Trump’s Medicaid Sabotage Will Hurt Those With Substance Use Disorders in Letter to Secretary Azar: “CMS’s Medicaid work requirements policy is directly at odds with bipartisan efforts to curb the opioid crisis…and will have a significant and disproportionately harmful effect on individuals with chronic health conditions, especially those struggling with substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental health disorders.”  [Letter, 2/15/18]

Signatories include: ADAP Advocacy Association (aaa+); Addiction Policy Forum, Advocacy Center of Louisiana; AIDS United, Alameda County Community Food Bank; American Association on Health and Disability; American Association of People with Disabilities; American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD); American Civil Liberties Union; American Federation of State; County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME); American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; American Group Psychotherapy Association; American Psychological Association; American Society of Addiction Medicine; Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare; Bailey House, Inc.; Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists; Brooklyn Defender Services; CADA of Northwest Louisiana; California Consortium of Addiction Programs & Professionals; California Hepatitis Alliance; Caring Across Generations; Caring Ambassadors Program; CASES; Center for Civil Justice; Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO); Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); Center for Medicare Advocacy; Center for Public Representation; Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy; CHOW Project; Coalition of Medication Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates; Colorado Center on Law and Policy; Community Access National Network (CANN); Community Catalyst; Community Health Councils; Community Legal Services of Philadelphia; Community Oriented Correctional Health Services; Community Service Society; Connecticut Legal Services; Consumer Health First; C.O.R.E. Medical Clinic, Inc.; Council on Social Work Education; CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants); DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Desert AIDS Project; Disability Rights Arkansas; Disability Rights Wisconsin; Drug Policy Alliance; EAC Network (Empower Assist Care); EverThrive Illinois; Facing Addiction with NCADD; Faces & Voices of Recovery; FedCURE; First Focus; Florida Health Justice Project, Inc.; Food & Friends; The Fortune Society; Forward Justice; Friends of Recovery – New York; Futures Without Violence; God’s Love We Deliver; Greater Hartford Legal Aid; Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice; Harm Reduction Coalition; Health Law Advocates; Hep Free Hawaii; Hepatitis C Support Project/HCV Advocate; Heartland Alliance; HIV Medicine Association; Horizon Health Services; Hunger Free America; ICCA; Illinois Association of Behavioral Health; The Joy Bus; JustLeadershipUSA; Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice; The Kennedy Forum; Kentucky Equal Justice Center ; Kitchen Angels ; Justice in Aging ; Justice Consultants, LLC; Lakeshore Foundation; Law Foundation of Silicon Valley; Legal Action Center; The Legal Aid Society; Legal Council for Health Justice; Life Foundation; Live4Lali; Liver Health Connection; Maine Equal Justice Partners; MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance); Massachusetts Law Reform Institute; McShin Foundation; Mental Health America; Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc. (MHANYS); Michigan Poverty Law Program; Minnesota Recovery Connection; Mississippi Center for Justice; NAACP; The National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health; National Alliance on Mental Illness; NAMI-NYS; National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors; National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers; National Association of County Behavioral Health & Developmental Disability Directors; National Association for Rural Mental Health; National Association of Social Workers; National Center for Law and Economic Justice; National Coalition Against Domestic Violence; National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Phoenix; National Council for Behavioral Health; National Council of Churches; National Disability Rights Network; National Employment Law Project; National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health; National Health Care for the Homeless Council; National Health Law Program; National HIRE Network; National Juvenile Justice Network; National LGBTQ Task Force; National Low Income Housing Coalition; National Organization for Women; The National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable; NC Justice Center; New Haven Legal Assistance Association; New York Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse; New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest; New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare; Open Hands Legal Services; Osborne Association; Outreach Development Corp.; The Partnership for Drug Free Kids; PICO National Network; The Poverello Center, Inc.; Project Inform; Public Justice Center; Root & Rebound; Ryan White Medical Providers Coalition; Safer Foundation; Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; School Social Work Association of America; Sea Island Action Network, South Carolina; The Sentencing Project; Shatterproof; Society of General Internal Medicine; Southern Center for Human Rights; Southern Poverty Law Center; Students for Sensible Drug Policy; TASC of the Capital District, Inc.; Tennessee Justice Center; Three Square Food Bank; Transitions Clinic Network; Treatment Action Group; Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) – Illinois; Treatment Communities of America; Virginia Poverty Law Center; Western Center on Law & Poverty

ashoup
In Capitol Hill, News

Sen. Susan Collins Keeps Moving the Goalposts on ACA Stabilization Bills

FIRST, COLLINS SAID SHE WANTED ALEXANDER-MURRAY AND COLLINS-NELSON TO BE LAW BEFORE MOVING TO THE TAX BILL

November 19, 2017: “And I Would Like To See That Done Before We Go To The Tax Bill.” Collins: “ It’s a problem for me if it is not mitigated. But there is a way to mitigate the impact that it would have on insurance premiums. I do want to point out that that provision, all that provision says is that a person who chooses not to get insurance cannot be fined for that decision. That’s very different from what we were faced with this past summer and fall when insurance was being taken away from people who wanted to be insured. The fact is that those fines are paid by — overwhelmingly by people who make less than $50,000 a year, 80 percent of the people who pay the fines fall in that category. But I’m worried about the impact on premiums. And that’s why we’re going to need to pass legislation. And I would like to see that done before we go to the tax bill.” [ABC’s This Week, 11/19/17]

AND THEN, COLLINS SAID SHE WANTED THE TWO STABILIZATION BILLS TO BE LAW BEFORE THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE CAME BACK AND INDICATED SHE GOT PRESIDENT TRUMP TO SUPPORT THE TWO PIECES OF LEGISLATION

November 28, 2017: Collins: “I’m Pushing To Make Sure They Are Passed And Signed Into Law Prior To The Conference Report Coming Back.” “‘I’m pushing to make sure they are passed and signed into law prior to the conference report coming back,’ she said, ‘So I would know for certain that we’re going to be able to mitigate the impact of repealing the individual mandate.’ When reporters pointed out the possibility that there will be no conference committee, that the House just passes the bill as-is, Collins waved away that fear. ‘Everything I’m hearing is that there is going to be a conference committee,’ she said.” [TPM, 11/29/17]

November 28, 2017: Collins Insisted She Secured Support From President Trump For Alexander-Murray And Collins-Nelson. “Collins insisted Tuesday that she secured support from Trump for two bills she says would mitigate the damage of repealing the mandate—one to restore government subsidies to insurance companies that Trump defunded earlier this year and the other to set up a federal reinsurance program. ‘Collins-Nelson would provide seed money for states and authorize high-risk pools. That really helps insurers because it gives them much more certainty about what their claims are going to be like,’ she told TPM in a gaggle with reporters Tuesday afternoon. ‘Similarly, Alexander-Murray would reinstate the cost-sharing reductions and that helps low-income people with their co-pays, and it gives certainty to insurers so they don’t flee the market. So I think the combination of those two would be very powerful.’” [TPM, 11/29/17]

November 28, 2017: Collins: “ A Lot Of My Concerns Are Being Addressed.” “‘A lot of my concerns are being addressed,’ Collins told reporters after a lunch meeting with Trump in Washington.” [Press Herald, 11/28/17]

November 28, 2017: Collins: “While My Preference Is Still That The Individual Mandate Repeal Not Be Included In The Tax Bill, If It Is Included, It Essential That We Mitigate The Impact Of Premiums With The Alexander-Murray Bill And With Bipartisan Legislation I Introduced With Senator Bill Nelson…” “While making her most positive comments yet on the tax reform bill Tuesday, Collins stopped short of announcing her outright support, and she remains in the ‘undecided’ category. ‘I have had a number of good discussions with the White House and with my colleagues, and we are continuing to have productive negotiations. Many of these discussions have focused on my proposals to help middle-income families, including allowing a deduction for property taxes and helping to lower insurance premiums on the individual market to offset any increases that might result from repealing the individual mandate,’ Collins said in a written statement. ‘While my preference is still that the individual mandate repeal not be included in the tax bill,’ she said, ‘if it is included, it is essential that we mitigate the impact on premiums with the Alexander-Murray bill and with bipartisan legislation I introduced with Senator Bill Nelson, D-Florida, that would protect people with pre-existing conditions while lowering premiums through the use of high-risk pools.’” [Press Herald, 11/28/17]

AND THEN, COLLINS VOTED FOR THE SENATE TAX BILL

December 2, 2017: The Senate Passed Its Tax Bill 51-49. Collins Voted In Favor. [Senate Vote 303, 12/2/17]

AND THEN, SHE SAID SHE HAD A “COMMITMENT” TO PASS THE TWO BILLS

December 3, 2017: Collins: “I Got A Commitment That We’re Going To Pass Two Bills, Including The Alexander Murray Bill…And One That I’ve Authored That WIll Help Offset The Individual Mandate Repeal By Lowering Premiums.” “I believe that the amendments that I added on medical expense deductions, on property tax deductions, on helping retirement security for public employees improved the bill. I got a commitment that we’re going to pass two bills, including the Alexander Murray bill…And one that I’ve authored that will help offset the individual mandate repeal by lowering premiums. And I also got an ironclad commitment that we’re not going to see cuts in the Medicaid/Medicare program as a result of this bill.” [Sen. Collins on Meet the Press, 12/3/17]

COLLINS VOTED FOR THE FINAL TAX BILL THAT BECAME LAW

December 20,2017: The Senate Passed The Conference Report Tax Bill 51-48. Collins Voted In Favor. [Senate Vote 323, 12/20/17]

AND THEN, COLLINS SAID SHE ASKED THAT THE STABILIZATION BILLS NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION BILL AND INSTEAD WOULD OFFER IT DURING THE OMNIBUS BILL IN 2018, ALSO SAYING SPEAKER RYAN REITERATED HIS SUPPORT FOR PASSING HIGH RISK POOLS AND REINSURANCE BILLS

December 20, 2017: Collins And Alexander: “For This Reason, We Have Asked Senator McConnell Not To Offer This Week Our Legislation…Instead, We Will Offer It After The First Of The Year When The Senate Will Consider The Omnibus Spending Bill, [CHIP and CHCs], And Other Legislation.” “United States Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) today jointly released the following statement: ‘Rather than considering a broad year-end funding agreement as we expected, it has become clear that Congress will only be able to pass another short-term extension to prevent a government shutdown and to continue a few essential programs,’ said the Senators.  ‘For this reason, we have asked Senator McConnell not to offer this week our legislation which independent analysts Avalere and Oliver-Wyman say would reduce premiums by about 20 percent for the 9 million Americans who have no government subsidies to help them buy insurance in the individual market. Instead, we will offer it after the first of the year when the Senate will consider the omnibus spending bill, the Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization, funding for Community Health Centers, and other legislation that was to have been enacted this week.’” [Alexander and Collins Statement, 12/20/17]

December 20, 2017: Collins Said Speaker Paul Ryan Remained Committed To Passing Reinsurance And High-Risk Pools And “Pointed Out That By Waiting Until Early Next Year, We Will Be Able To Use A New CBO Baseline That Will Result In More Funding Being Available For Reinsurance…” “I appreciate the thoughtful and bipartisan effort that Chairman Alexander has led in the Senate health committee, and I look forward to working alongside him and Ranking Member Murray to enact these bipartisan bills and help make health insurance more affordable. This afternoon Speaker Paul Ryan called me and said that the House remains committed to passing legislation to provide for high-risk pools and other reinsurance mechanisms similar to the bipartisan legislation I have introduced. He pointed out that by waiting until early next year, we will be able to use a new CBO baseline that will result in more funding being available for reinsurance programs that have been proven effective in lowering premiums while protecting people with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis.” [Collins Statement, 12/20/17]

COLLINS SAID THE DEADLINE IS SLIPPING BUT STILL REMAINED CONFIDENT THEY WOULD BECOME LAW

December 20, 2017: Collins: “I Think The Policy Is More Important Than The Deadline, And The Deadline Is Slipping. And I’m The First To Say I’m Not Happy About That, That I’m Disappointed About That.” “Sen. Susan Collins announced Wednesday that crucial Affordable Care Act stabilization bills will be delayed until 2018 despite the promises she received from Republican leaders that they would be approved by the end of this year. Collins had emphasized passage of the two bills to secure her vote for the tax reform bill. ‘I think the policy is more important than the deadline, and the deadline is slipping. And I am the first to say that I am not happy about that, that I’m disappointed about that,’ Collins, a moderate Republican, told the Portland Press Herald in an interview Wednesday. ‘But I believe that at the end of the day, we’re going to end up where I want us to be – in fact, maybe even with a better bill.’” [Press Herald, 12/20/17]

AND NOW, COLLINS PUNTED ON THE TIMING, SAYING SHE WANTED TO BE DONE BY  2019

Collins Office Statement: “When The Mandate Is Repealed In 2019, We Must Have Other Health Care Reforms In Place To Prevent Further Increases In The Cost Of Health Insurance.” “In an interview with Inside Health Policy published Thursday, Collins said she hopes the policies she proposed will pass and be implemented before 2019, when the repeal of the individual mandate is expected to shrink the individual insurance market by several million people and drive up premiums by at least 10 percent. ‘When the mandate is repealed in 2019, we must have other health care reforms in place in order to prevent further increases in the cost of health insurance,’ Collins’ office said in a statement. ‘Senator Collins believes that averting these price spikes, particularly for low-income families, should be a goal that members of both parties can embrace.’” [TPM, 1/4/18]

ashoup
In Capitol Hill, Administration, News

Protect Our Care Statement On Federal Open Enrollment Numbers

In response to the news that 8.8 million people signed up for health insurance on the federal marketplace, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“A day after Republicans repealed a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and declared the law ‘dead,’ the results of open enrollment made clear the ACA is very much alive and demonstrated just how out of touch the GOP’s priorities are,” said Woodhouse. “More than 2 million new customers signed up for ACA coverage. The Affordable Care Act is working, and people’s lives are improving because of it. Despite widespread sabotage by the Trump Administration, including cutting the open enrollment period in half and dramatically slashing the advertising budget, these numbers prove that people want and need the affordable, quality health coverage the ACA provides, they rely on it for health and financial peace of mind and any further attempts at sabotage will be met with severe resistance. It’s time for the GOP to abandon efforts to take away people’s health care.”

ashoup
In Capitol Hill, News

Susan Collins Failed to Deliver On Her Health Care Promises

In response to a statement put out by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:

“After casting a vote for health care repeal in the middle of the night, Susan Collins admitted that she failed to deliver on her promises to Mainers,” said Woodhouse. “First she asserted she wouldn’t vote for repeal without health care stabilization bills being signed into law. Then she claimed she wouldn’t vote for repeal without a concurrent vote on the stabilization bills. Then she said she wouldn’t vote for repeal without a promise of their becoming law in the future. Now, she has basically said she trusts Paul Ryan – who has shown no indication of support for these measures – to make this happen.

“At the end of the day, we’re left with 13 million Americans who will lose their health insurance, millions more who will see their premiums increase and assurances which are getting weaker and weaker with each subsequent press release. Millions of Americans – and hundreds of thousands of Mainers, who just one month ago overwhelmingly voted to expand Medicaid – will suffer because of it.”

ashoup
In Capitol Hill, News

Protect Our Care Statement on Senate Passage of GOP Tax Scam, Sneaky Health Care Repeal

In response to the Senate passing the GOP tax scam containing sneaky repeal, which will kick 13 million Americans off of their insurance, raise premiums double digits for millions more and slash Medicare by $25 billion, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“After rejecting health repeal over the summer, today, in the early hours of the morning, Senate Republicans voted to kick 13 million people off of their health insurance, raise premiums double digits for millions more and trigger a $25 billion cut in Medicare – all so the wealthiest and large corporations can get a tax break,” Woodhouse said.

“One of the primary reasons this tax bill passed with sneaky repeal was because Senator Susan Collins was assured Congress would pass two bills to stabilize the marketplace. Make no mistake: none of these bills will mitigate the damage done by this repeal vote the Senate just took.

“And to the shock of no one, before the bill even passed, Sens. Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy and others were plotting to bring back the GOP’s full health repeal legislation. Apparently kicking 13 million Americans off of their health insurance and raising premiums double digits wasn’t enough – the Republicans want to dump 32 million, raise premiums 20 percent and cut Medicaid by $4.1 trillion. Those who have previously opposed such measures, like Sens. Collins and Lisa Murkowski, must pledge to oppose any further repeal efforts – the health care system has already been harmed enough.”

ashoup
In Capitol Hill, News

Protect Our Care Statement on House Passage of GOP Tax Scam, Sneaky Health Care Repeal

In response to the House passing the GOP tax scam containing sneaky repeal, which will kick 13 million Americans off of their insurance, raise premiums double digits for millions more and slash Medicare by $25 billion, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“Today, Republicans made clear their claims about expanding health care access, lowering the deficit and evening the playing field for the middle class were complete lies,” Woodhouse said. “This legislation will kick 13 million people off of their health insurance, raise premiums double digits for millions more and trigger a $25 billion cut in Medicare – all so the wealthiest and large corporations can get a tax break.

“This bill is atrocious in all aspects. It was written in a dark room without outside analysis or bipartisan input. When nonpartisan analyses found that GOP claims were severely misleading, Speaker Paul Ryan just said they were wrong. When asked to make the conference report public, Chairman Kevin Brady responded by releasing its text at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon. When experts warned about rushing the bill through, Republicans ignored them, to the point that GOP Members literally cannot name the tax brackets in the bill they voted in favor of. And all of this was done to pass a massively unpopular bill that guts health care for the middle-class and makes the one-percent even richer.

“The Republican war on health care has not gone unnoticed by the American people. Health care has dominated every Congressional recess, it’s the number one issue on the minds of voters, it powered Democrats in last month’s elections in Virginia, Maine and New Jersey and the GOP’s efforts to repeal and sabotage the law have contributed to historically-low approval ratings for President Trump and congressional Republicans. Republicans are going to get their tax scam – but at great cost to American health care and to the GOP’s own political standing.”

ashoup
In Capitol Hill, Administration

Protect Our Care Statement On Potential Inclusion Of Alexander-Murray In Senate Spending Bill

In response to the news that the Senate plans to include the Alexander-Murray legislation in its must-pass spending bill this week, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“This is not nearly enough to offset the damage caused by this tax bill, and for senators to pretend otherwise is wrong and short-sighted” said Woodhouse. “13 million people will lose health insurance due to sneaky repeal and millions more will see their premiums rise double digits, and Alexander-Murray will do virtually nothing for these people even it is able to pass the House, far from a sure thing.

“Perhaps Senators Collins and Murkowski think this legislation will allow them to justify supporting a tax scam benefiting the wealthiest and big corporations at the expense of everyone else, but it provides little comfort to the American people losing sleep over their health care being put in jeopardy by the GOP tax scam.”

ashoup
In Capitol Hill, Administration

Tell Bob to Put a Cork In the Tax Bill

Sen. Bob Corker wins from the tax bill, while Tennesseans lose

SEN. CORKER COULD SEE MORE THAN $1 MILLION WINDFALL FROM THIS TAX BILL …

Economist Dean Baker estimates that Sen. Bob Corker could see a more than $1 million windfall from a provision in the latest tax bill Corker is now supporting.

WHAT AVERAGE TENNESSEANS GET …

  • $1.46 trillion added to the debt
  • 262,000 Tennesseans will lose health coverage
  • $2,970 higher premiums for a typical middle class family in Tennessee
  • $2,189 age tax for people over 50 in Tennessee because of higher premiums
  • $25 billion in Medicare cuts, including $539 million in Tennessee alone – and laying the groundwork for even more
ashoup
In Capitol Hill, News

Protect Our Care Statement In Response to GOP Finally Releasing Tax Scam Text

In response to the text of the GOP tax scam – which kicks 13 million people off of their insurance, raises premiums double digits for millions more and cuts Medicare by $25 billion – finally being released, Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“This GOP tax plan was negotiated behind closed doors, and now they’re releasing it as a Friday night news dump on the weekend before the vote because they want this hidden from the American people and only shared with their donors,” said Woodhouse. “They know the American people reject giving tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations at the expense of health care for middle class families. The more people learn about this plan, the worse things will get for its supporters. Thirteen million Americans will lose their insurance, tens of millions more will see their premiums increase by double digits and Medicare will be slashed by $25 billion, all to give a tax break to the wealthiest and corporations..

“After being written in a back room, without hearings, expert input or a bipartisan debate, and passing the Senate in the middle of the night, this bill went through conference in complete secrecy, with Democratic amendments refused and Democratic Members being given just two hours to examine it. And of course, this comes just days after a special election in Alabama where the Trump/GOP agenda was soundly rejected and just a month after GOP electoral losses across the country where healthcare played the dominant role.

“This bill is a mockery of the democratic process  This bill gives the top 0.1% a $200,000 tax break while raising health care premiums for people by 10%. That is indefensible. Any GOP Member of Congress who cares about their constituents’ health care should vote against it.”

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