Tag: ACA

Erik Paulsen Votes Against Protections for Pre-Existing Conditions

Original Photo: Craig Lassig, MinnPost

Yesterday, Congressman Erik Paulsen voted along with all of his Republican colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee against a measure to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions from discrimination. In Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, there are 310,200 people with pre-existing conditions. DCCC spokesperson Rachel Irwin released the following statement:

“Congressman Erik Paulsen has once again sided with party bosses and special interests in Washington over his constituents, voting to allow insurance companies to deny coverage to the hundreds of thousands of people in his district with asthma, diabetes, and other pre-existing conditions. Minnesotans will remember this betrayal in November as healthcare is top of mind for voters.”

This vote comes just a few weeks after Rep. Paulsen’s spokesperson, said in a statement to the Star Tribune that, “Rep. [Erik] Paulsen has long supported protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions, and he continues to do so.”

Here are the facts: Paulsen has taken more than $1.2 million from the insurance industry and voted dozens of times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would’ve eliminated protections for those with pre-existing conditions. In 2017, he voted for the AHCA, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and Politifact confirmed would gut protections for those with pre-existing conditions, including making health insurance unaffordable for older Americans and jack up premiums. Paulsen has also failed to stand up to Trump’s administration ongoing efforts to dismantle pre-existing conditions protections.

Moving Backward

The following article by Theresa Chalhoub, Aditya Krishnaswamy and the National Partnership for Women and Families was posted on the Center for American Progress Progress website June 21, 2018:

Efforts to Undo Pre-Existing Condition Protections Put Millions of Women and Girls at Risk

A mother and her child visit the doctor, October 2013. Credit: GettyBSIP/UIG

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits discriminatory insurance practices in pricing and coverage in the individual market. Before the law was enacted, women routinely were denied coverage or charged more for insurance based on so-called pre-existing conditions. For example, in the individual insurance market, a woman could be denied coverage or charged a higher premium if she had been diagnosed with or experienced HIV or AIDS; diabetes; lupus; an eating disorder; or pregnancy or a previous cesarean birth, just to name a few. The ACA provided women with protections for pre-existing conditions and access to comprehensive, affordable, and fair health services. Continue reading “Moving Backward”

Kavanaugh Is A Threat To Americans’ Health Care

Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Kavanaugh, is a threat to Americans’ health care. We know Kavanaugh will gut the Affordable Care Act because Trump himself pledged his Supreme Court nominee would “do the right thing” and strike it down, and because Kavanaugh wrote that a future president could refuse to enforce it.

Trump pledged that his Supreme Court nominee would “do the right thing” and gut the Affordable Care Act.

“If I win the presidency, my judicial appointments will do the right thing unlike Bush’s appointee John Roberts on Obamacare.” – Trump, 2015

Continue reading “Kavanaugh Is A Threat To Americans’ Health Care”

What about Trump’s Supreme Court Nomineee Brett Kavanaugh?

Why are people concerned with what’s happening with Pres. Trump’s pick to replace Justice Kennedy?  Here’s why:

Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Kavanaugh, is a threat to Americans’ health care and women’s rights. If confirmed, he will be an extremist on the Supreme Court bench, where he will be able to carry out a far-right agenda long after Trump leaves office.

This is the most consequential Supreme Court nomination in a generation and will affect monumental decisions made for the next half century. It could roll back women’s rights, and the right to affordable and accessible health care, for decades to come. Continue reading “What about Trump’s Supreme Court Nomineee Brett Kavanaugh?”

Health Care Sabotage

Donald Trump and his administration continue their attack on health care:

Trump suspended a program that helps stabilize health insurance markets

In its latest effort to sabotage the working Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is suspending ACA risk adjustment payments.  These payments actively encourage insurers to participate in the exchanges and cover sicker patients who need more care, not just young and healthy people.  The Trump administration’s move injects uncertainty into the insurance market and could drive up premiums for next year.

Trump’s sabotage of the ACA is increasing premiums

Trump and Republicans have failed to deliver on their promises of making health care more affordable and accessible. In reality, their ongoing sabotage of the ACA has caused premiums to increase and increased the ranks of the uninsured. Continue reading “Health Care Sabotage”

Graham-Cassidy 2.0

The following article by Topher Spiro was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 19, 2018:

New ACA Repeal Plan Revives Threats to Americans’ Health Care

The U.S. Capitol building is seen behind two ambulances on Friday, June 15, 2018. Credit: Getty, Bill Clark

The so-called Health Policy Consensus Group—led by former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and composed of several conservative think tank groups—just released a new plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act.1 The group has been working with Senate Republicans, a group of corporations, and the White House, which supports the plan. Some Senate Republicans aim to take legislative action on the plan by the end of August.2 Their first step would be to pass a budget bill that provides them with the authority to pass the repeal bill on a party-line vote. The House Budget Committee is scheduled to begin that process this week.3

Although this is a new plan, it merely recycles some of the worst elements of the failed Graham-Cassidy repeal bill4—which experts consider the “the most harmful” repeal bill.5Graham-Cassidy 2.0 would lead to the same disastrous results: Continue reading “Graham-Cassidy 2.0”

President Trump’s flip-flop on coverage for preexisting health conditions

The following article by Glenn Kessler and Meg Kelly was posted on the Washington Post website June 14, 2018:

The president regularly said he would keep the protections for people with pre-existing conditions. A recent decision does the opposite. (Meg Kelly /The Washington Post)

“After careful consideration, and with the approval of the President of the United States, I have determined that, in Texas v. United States, No. 4: l 8-cv-00167-O (N.D. Tex.), the Department will not defend the constitutionality of 26 U.S.C. 5000A(a), and will argue that certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are inseverable from that provision.”
— Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a letter, June 7, 2018

In plain English, the attorney general’s letter means that the Trump administration no longer supports a provision of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, that makes it possible for people to buy insurance if they have preexisting health conditions. Continue reading “President Trump’s flip-flop on coverage for preexisting health conditions”

The New Obamacare Lawsuit Could Undo Far More Than Protections for Pre-existing Conditions

The following article by Margot Sanger-Katz was posted on the New York Times website June 12, 2018:

Removing two rules from the individual market could very easily disrupt many others.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Capitol Hill in April. The Justice Department has filed suit challenging a crucial provision of the Affordable Care Act. Credit: Andrew Harnik, AP

A new Trump administration court challenge is explicitly aiming to remove a central promise of Obamacare — its protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. But it could also make it much harder for any individual to obtain health insurance on the open market.

The administration’s brief, filed in Federal District Court in Texas on Thursday, focuses on the core Obamacare provisions that make insurance available to people with prior illnesses. Those protections — which President Trump once praised and Republicans in Congress vowed not to disrupt last year — don’t exist in a vacuum. Continue reading “The New Obamacare Lawsuit Could Undo Far More Than Protections for Pre-existing Conditions”