New Dem Health Care Leaders Slam Trump’s Ending of Cost Lowering Payments
Reps. Kurt Schrader (OR-5), Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-07) and Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02), co-chairs of the New Democrat Coalition Task Force on Affordable and Accessible Healthcare Task Force, and New Democrat Coalition Chair Jim Himes (CT-04) slammed the President today for ending cost sharing reduction (CSR) payments to the individual health insurance exchange. In July, the co-chairs led a group of 10 House Democrats from across the political spectrum in a five-part plan, titled Solutions Over Politics, to stabilize the individual marketplace and improve the Affordable Care Act. Their plan, which has been endorsed by roughly half of the Democratic caucus and was the foundation of later bipartisan plans and discussions in both the House and Senate, calls for making CSR payments permanent.
“We’ve committed the better part of this year engaging with health care experts, insurers, providers and constituents to develop a thoughtful, solutions driven plan to stabilize the individual marketplace,” said Congressman Schrader. “This President has built a career on showmanship and publicity stunts, and this is one spiteful publicity stunt that does nothing but deliberately and actively strip millions of people of their health care. The Solutions Over Politics group is engaged and has been sitting at the table for months calling for the bipartisan talks that this President has repeatedly claimed to want. We’re still at the table, and we’re as ready as ever for our Congressional colleagues to join us if they’re at all serious about improving the health care system in this country.”
“This is sabotage, plain and simple,” said Congressman Bera. “Why is this administration so set on hurting millions of Americans? As a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm – it’s time the Trump administration take that same oath. Despite multiple failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I was hopeful we could finally improve health care in a bipartisan manner. Instead, President Trump has undermined the Affordable Care Act at every turn, just to fulfill a political promise. This decision will raise premium costs and increase the deficit according to the Congressional Budget Office. Creating confusion and undermining insurance markets less than three weeks before open enrollment hurts those who need insurance the most. My message to the Trump administration is clear: stop playing politics with people’s health care.”
"This deliberate effort by President Trump to destroy the ACA is going to have devastating consequences for real people and families in New Hampshire and across the country,” said Congresswoman Kuster. “Ending cost-sharing reduction payments will spike premiums at a time when we should be working to reduce costs and expand access to care. There is support among both Republicans and Democrats for continuing these payments and for measures such as reinsurance programs that would help to stabilize the individual marketplace and rein in costs, but President Trump is hell-bent on undermining, not fixing the ACA. Sadly, President Trump's damaging executive order will make working together across the aisle to improve our healthcare system all the more difficult."
“President Trump’s decision to end the payments that are vital to the functioning of the ACA marketplaces is a malicious act of destruction,” said Congressman Himes. “I hope he will see the error of his ways and quickly reverse course. If he does not, Congress should act immediately to enshrine these payments into law and work toward bipartisan, bicameral to stabilize the marketplace and actually work for the health and benefit of the American people. The agreement being negotiated by Senators Alexander and Murray would be a good place to start to plug the hole and ensure people don’t start to die because of the administration’s actions.”
It’s estimated that ending CSR payments will hike exchange-plan premiums an average of 20 percent. This is the latest, and most harmful, in a laundry list of actions by the President to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Already, he has slashed Health and Human Service’s outreach and marketing budget by 90 percent, cut the open enrollment period in half, ordered a shutdown of the enrollment website for 12 hours on Sundays throughout open enrollment, and has been using official resources to promote anti-Affordable Care Act advertisements.
Next Article Previous Article