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Thompson, Garamendi vote against health care repeal
Lake County's two members of Congress on Friday voted against the effort to begin dismantling the Affordable Care Act.
Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) and Rep. John Garamendi (CA-03) both voted against S.Con.Res.3, a budget resolution that begins the process to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, which is being pushed by Republicans in Congress.
The bill passed by a 227 to 198 vote, which Garamendi said throws America’s health insurance market into a period of volatile uncertainty.
Thompson said the Republican Majority in the House “looked a lot like the dog that caught the bus as they took the first step in their campaign promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act. I do not believe they have fully thought this through.”
He said 30 million people could lose their health coverage because of the actions taken Friday.
“Protections for preexisting conditions will evaporate. Children will no longer be able to stay on their parents’ insurance policies. Three million jobs across the country are at risk. Hospitals will lose the resources and funding they need to keep our families healthy. California hospitals stand to lose over $14 billion, and my district alone would lose roughly $343 million. It is clear this slash and burn approach will cost Americans dearly,” Thompson said.
During statements on the House floor, Thompson said the Republicans have maintained their “repeal and replace” plan regarding health care. “After seven years and more than 60 votes, they still have not come up with the replace. This isn’t just a talking point. This is literally a matter of life and death for people – like Raymond from Napa in my District, who was diagnosed with stage 3 renal cancer in 1996.”
Thompson said Raymond's premiums rose year after year until the ACA was passed. “Before the ACA, Raymond worried about losing his insurance because of his pre-existing condition. In fact, his cancer returned in 2014. Thanks to the ACA, he got the treatment he needed,” Thompson said.
He added, “What are Republicans going to do for Raymond if they repeal the ACA and his premiums go up? Or his insurance drops him because he had cancer over 20 years ago? Or he hits his lifetime cap on coverage? Republicans need to ask themselves if they’re willing to return Americans like Raymond to a time when the care they needed was always beyond their grasp.”
Garamendi said that over the past six years, House Republicans have voted more than 60 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, “yet we’ve never seen a comprehensive plan to replace it. Today’s vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act puts the insurance of up to 30 million Americans in jeopardy – 30 million Americans who would be one serious injury or disease away from destitution or worse.”
He continued, “Prior to the Affordable Care Act, 45,000 Americans died every year due to a lack of health insurance and people with pre-existing conditions were routinely denied coverage. I’ve said from day one that the Affordable Care Act can and should be improved, but we can’t go back to the dark days of regular denial of lifesaving medical care.”
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted at 1:30 a.m. to also begin the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Both repeal votes were rushed in the first weeks of the new Congress without any committee hearings or an alternative to the existing system, Garamendi said.
By contrast, in considering the Affordable Care Act, the House held 79 bipartisan hearings and markups over the span of two years, according to Garamendi.
Garamendi cited a number of important facts about the ACA in his support of it.
Those include that the uninsured rate is now the lowest on record – with the uninsured rate currently at 8.6 percent. Under the ACA, the uninsured rate has been slashed almost in half from 16.3 percent in 2010 to 8.6 percent today.
In addition, 20 million previously uninsured Americans have gained health insurance coverage since enactment of the ACA, and the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund has been extended by 11 years.
Other key facts about the ACA Garamendi cited include the following:
· More than 11 million seniors have saved more than $23.5 billion on their prescription drugs since 2010 – an average savings of more than $2,000 per senior.
· Under the ACA, unnecessary hospital readmissions in Medicare have fallen for the first time on record, dropping 8 percent between 2010 and 2015. Cumulatively since 2010, Medicare beneficiaries have avoided 565,000 hospital readmissions.
· Up to 129 million Americans have a preexisting condition. Before the ACA, this group could have been denied coverage or charged an exorbitant premium if they needed individual market insurance. Now, health insurance companies cannot discriminate against people based on their medical history.
· Before the ACA, 105 million Americans, most of them with employer coverage, had a lifetime limit on their insurance policy. The ACA prohibits annual and lifetime limits on policies.
· Since enactment of the ACA, health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years, resulting in savings for those with employer-based coverage. The average family premium for family coverage rose only 3.4 percent in 2016 – compared to an average rate of 7.9 percent from 2000 to 2010. Indeed, family premiums are $3,600 lower today than if growth had continued at the pre-ACA rates.
· Due to the ACA, all health plans now have limits on out-of-pocket costs, benefiting 22 million Americans with employer coverage who lacked this protection prior to the ACA.
· Under the ACA, health plans must cover preventive services – like flu shots, cancer screenings, contraception, and mammograms – at no extra cost to consumers, benefiting 137 million Americans, most of whom with employer coverage.
· An estimated 2.3 million young adults have benefited from the ACA provision allowing children to stay on their parents’ health insurance up to age 26.
· 87,000 lives and nearly $20 billion have been saved, due to a 17 percent reduction in hospital-acquired conditions, such as infections, from 2010 to 2014, under the ACA.