Tag: health insurance

Biden just took his first step to expand health coverage

Biden is opening up Obamacare enrollment and planning an ad blitz.

Eight days into his administration, President Joe Biden took a small step to expand health coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic — one that Donald Trump refused to take last year.

In an executive order Biden is signing Thursday, the president directs the US Department of Health and Human Services to open a special enrollment period on HealthCare.gov, allowing Americans to sign up for a new health insurance plan subsidized by the federal government. From February 15 to May 15, people who are uninsured can log on to the federal website and choose a health plan. (HealthCare.gov serves most states but not all; Biden officials said they expected the states that run their own insurance marketplaces to also open up enrollment.)

“These actions demonstrate a strong commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration to protect and build on the Affordable Care Act, meet the health care needs created by the pandemic, reduce health care costs, protect access to reproductive health care, and make our health care system easier to navigate and more equitable,” the White House said in a statement announcing the order. Continue reading.

Statement from House DFL Leadership on health insurance rate release

House DFL logoSAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Majority Leader Ryan Winkler released the following statements on today’s approved 2020 rates for Minnesota’s individual and small group health insurance plans.

“All Minnesotans deserve access to affordable, high-quality health care,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “While there are short-term positives in today’s news, this doesn’t help Minnesotans struggling with high deductibles and high out-of-pocket costs for necessities like prescription drugs. House DFLers are committed to making affordable health care a reality for everyone.”

“The Republicans’ only plan for health care — writing a blank check to insurance companies — isn’t sustainable,” said Majority Leader Winkler. “Last session, House DFLers passed measures to expand access, reduce health care costs, and reduce prescription drug prices while holding Big Pharma accountable. These policies are how we ensure Minnesotans have access to the high quality health care they need.”

Health scare 2018: How Minnesota campaigns are exploiting voters’ anxiety over health care

Credit: Getty/Sebastian Rose

The battle over health care — something that has become a defining feature of the 2018 midterm elections — has, in the final stretch of the campaign, come down to Republicans and Democrats making two different but equally emphatic assurances to voters.

Democrats are running on the argument that Republicans, if they retain majorities in Congress, would take another stab at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, and would aim to kill some of the law’s most popular planks — including its protections for individuals with pre-existing health conditions.

Republicans, meanwhile, insist that they have never, and would not ever, attempt to undermine the Obamacare provision that helped people with pre-existing conditions access more affordable health coverage. They’re issuing a warning of their own: if Democrats take control on Capitol Hill, they will push plans that would dramatically expand government health care programs — paving the way to ruin them at the expense of the seniors and families who need them most.

View the complete October 19 article by Sam Brody on the MinnPost website here.

Surge in ObamaCare signups surprises experts

The following article by Nathaniel Weixel was posted on the Hill website November 23, 2017:

The number of people signing up for ObamaCare has surged in the first few weeks of open enrollment this year, contrary to dire predictions.

The spike in sign-ups is good news for supporters of the health-care law, but experts warn the early numbers don’t necessarily signify a trend. Final enrollment numbers could still be much lower than in the past, they say.

The first ObamaCare open enrollment period of the Trump administration has been surprisingly robust, despite the uncertainty caused by nearly 10 months of repeal attempts in Congress, rising premiums and insurer exits. Continue reading “Surge in ObamaCare signups surprises experts”

Yes, Americans Die Earlier Without Health Insurance

The following article by Lesley Clark with the McClatchy Washington Bureau was posted on the National Memo website May 11, 2017:

Photo: Reuters

WASHINGTON — Do people die because they lack health insurance?

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, found himself in a pickle (and in a cameo in a Jimmy Kimmel monologue) when he suggested they don’t. He later elaborated that he was making the point that no one would “die in the streets” under the Republican health care plan, because hospitals are required by law to treat any patient in need of emergency care.

But health care advocates say his explanation falls short of reality, pointing to a host of studies that show access to health care does prevent premature death, in the case of Americans with conditions such as cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease, respiratory failure and asthma. Continue reading “Yes, Americans Die Earlier Without Health Insurance”

Do members of Congress pay for 100 percent of their health insurance?

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website April 17, 2017:

Question: “Who pays your salary?”
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.): “I am self-employed, I’ve been self-employed, and I pay more taxes inside my own company personally than I’ll ever receive from being in Congress. I pay my own, and I pay my own insurance. … So don’t mislead and think that you’re paying mine. I do. Also, every member of Congress, they pay for their own insurance, too. We are put into the exchange. We’re not a federal employee. We go into the D.C. exchange and we personally have to pay for 100 percent of it. Not a percentage, all of it.”
— Exchange during a town hall, April 10, 2017

Question: “Where do you get your insurance?”
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.): “I will say, just because there’s a lot of misinformation on it: I am on Obamacare. So that’s what Congress does.”
— Exchange during a town hall, April 10, 2017 Continue reading “Do members of Congress pay for 100 percent of their health insurance?”

Insurance Relief Package Vote

We’re hearing from our DFL Representatives and Senators who voted on the bills giving insurance premium relief. They fought hard to help Minnesotans dealing with premium surges now, and not a year from now.   Continue reading “Insurance Relief Package Vote”