Last year, a long needed bill finally passed the U.S. Congress despite severely distorted lies and misinformation, perpetrated on the public, regarding the details about what was and was not included in that bill. That bill was the Healthcare Reform (HCR) Bill. The newly sworn-in GOP-controlled House of Representatives, now wants to waste the taxpayers’ time and money by taking a vote to ‘repeal that bill’ … something they know very well they will not be able to do, as the bill will not likely be passed by the Senate. Even if it did manage to get by the Senate, it would certainly face an instant VETO by President Obama, and the GOP does not have sufficient votes to override such a veto.
HR 2, childishly named “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act,” has been scheduled to be voted on next Wednesday, January 7th. I’ve taken the time to read the bill on Thomas to learn that it addresses only the repeal of Public Law 111-148 (Health Care Reform) and the repeal of improved health care provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. There are no provisions to continue any provisions contained within either of those bills. And, I find it highly unlikely that any bill attempting to restore any provisions that actually help ordinary Americans, or the real small businesses that actually make products, or that provide services within our communities will ever see the light of day, given the GOP’s newly adopted rules.
So today, I’m writing you to urge you to vote NO on that repeal and to ask you whether you intend to cast your vote against the constituents you were elected to represent, or whether you intend to vote in locked step along GOP ideological and partisan lines. I’d also like to ask you some very specific questions for which I would very much like some real answers, not your standard ideological, and partisan letter in response to my well-thought out letter.
- The life of the Medicare Trust fund will be extended to at least 2029, a 12-year extension as a result of reducing waste, fraud and abuse, and slowing cost growth in Medicare. This will provide you with future cost savings on your premiums and coinsurance. Does the GOP majority really intend to repeal the extension and continued solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund?
- The Affordable Care Act makes an historic, ten-year, $350 million investment to prevent, detect and fight fraud in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program—including criminal efforts to exploit the new law. Does the GOP majority now wish to repeal efforts to strengthen Medicare anti-fraud enforcement? Is their intent to ensure loopholes permitting or allowing fraud to occur can continue at the taxpayer’s expense?
- Small businesses (not just the multi-million dollar S-Corporations) who actually are the true job creators across this nation, currently enjoy under HCR, a tax credit of up to 35% of the premiums they pay to enable them to provide health insurance to their employees and recruit new and talented employees. Does the GOP majority now wish to eliminate that tax incentive for small businesses across this nation and handicap their ability to recruit talented workers?
- You represent NV-CD2, a predominantly rural district encompassing a large expanse across Nevada. Under HCR, Medicare payment protection was extended to small rural hospitals with outpatient services, lab services, and those facilities playing a critical role in their communities. Without that protection, a large number of doctors and healthcare providers would cease providing services to these Seniors making it much more difficult for them to access the health care services they desperately need. Is it the intent of the GOP majority to repeal this provision and create the equivalent of a virtual death panel for Seniors who increasingly become unable to find providers willing to take them on as patients?
- In 2011, once Medicare recipients hit the prescription drug donut hole, they will get a 50% discount on brand-name drugs. Every year thereafter, they will pay less for their prescription drugs in the donut hole until there’s complete coverage of the donut hole in 2020. Between now and then, they will get continuous Medicare coverage for your prescription drugs. Many of those Medicare recipients just went through their annual open-enrollment period and made their plan selections based on these HCR provisions. Does the GOP majority really intend to re-open the donut hole for Seniors and cause them once again to have to decide whether halve their medications so they can afford to put food on their tables and/or pay their utilities to maintain heat in their homes?
- Under the HCR law, health plans that cover children can no longer exclude, limit or deny coverage to children under age 19, solely based on a health problem or disability that a child developed before the parent applied for coverage. This new rule applies to all job-related health plans as well as individual health insurance policies issued after March 23, 2010. In addition, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to newborns born with severe birth defects, claiming they have a pre-existing condition that is uncoverable. Does the GOP majority intend to enable insurance corporations to revert to their previous policies of refusing coverage under family plans for children’s pre-existing conditions?
- Under HCR, if your insurance company found that you’d made any simple mistake on your insurance application, the insurance company might “rescind” your benefits—that is, declare your policy invalid from the day it began. Your insurance company might then also ask you to pay back any money already spent for your medical care. Under the new law, an insurer cannot rescind your coverage simply because you made an honest mistake or left out information that has little bearing on your health. Does the GOP majority want to enable insurance corporations to abuse rescission clauses in insurance policies once they learn an insured person has become sick?
- HCR “helps preserve our choice of doctors by guaranteeing that we can choose the primary care doctor or pediatrician we want from our health plan’s provider network and that we can see an OB-GYN doctor without needing a referral from another doctor. The law also ensures that we can seek emergency care at a hospital outside our plan’s network without prior approval from our health plan.” Does the GOP majority want to return to a system in which insurance corporations can limit our choices of physicians and deny payments for bills charged for emergency treatment in an Emergency Room not identified in an insurance plan?
- Seniors across this country just completed their Medicare Open Enrollment period, during which they had to make their plan selections and lock them in for the next year. Television advertisements regularly promoted the new HCR provisions taking effect this month which eliminates all cost sharing for preventive services covered by Medicare (mammograms, colonoscopies, prostate exams, etc.) waiving deductibles for these exams. If the GOP majority were to repeal these exams, health plan choices made by millions of Seniors across this nation once these provisions are eliminated. Does the GOP majority intend to repeal all cost sharing provisions for cancer-screening tests for Medicare-eligible Seniors across this country?
- Rising costs have made it difficult for employers to provide quality, affordable health insurance for workers and retirees while also remaining competitive in the global marketplace. Many Americans who retire without employer-sponsored insurance and before they are eligible for Medicare” are faced with exorbitant costs for individual and family insurance plans. There’s a double-edged sword herein as the ACA addresses employment issues. Some companies could initiate early retirement programs, opening positions for younger workers IF those currently employed could afford to retire. Without affordable options for health care plans current employees close to, but not year reaching retirement age, tend to stick around longer on the job just to keep the health plan — even if the company could secure younger, less costly workers, if retirement were a real option for incumbent positions. Does the GOP majority intend to repeal and not replace the ‘early retirees reinsurance’ provisions of the HCR bill?
- Insurance corporations are fond of offered a large number of ‘limited benefit plans’ which are highly profitable for them, but worthless for consumers, Labeled as ‘junk’ by Consumer Reports , these types of plans will now be phased out by 2014. Does the GOP majority intend to repeal these provisions so as to allow insurance corporations to continue to bilk and exploit consumers?
- For years, health care premium costs have risen at much greater rates than rises in the consumer price index. At the same time, percent of premium payments dedicated to medical treatments has dropped. Under HCR, Health plan administrators are now required to justify premium increases. In addition, plans must now report their annual share of premium dollars spent on medical care, and those totaling less than 80-85% must provide a consumer rebate. Does the GOP majority intend to repeal these provisions and replace them with nothing so as to allow insurance corporations to continue to increase premiums while simultaneously spending less and less of those premium dollars on actual health care for the individuals they insure?
- The Congressional Budget Office has issued a letter to Speaker of the House, Rep. Boehner detailing the impact on the deficit and the national debt if the GOP-led House should be successful in repealing HCR. Paragraph 2 on page 5 tells us that “.. the effect of HR2 on federal deficits as a result of changes in direct spending and revenues is likely to be an increase in the vicinity of $230 B.” Speaker Boehner summarily dismissed the non-partisan CBO’s analysis, claiming ““I do not believe that repealing the job- killing health care law will increase the deficit.” Given the GOP’s Pledge to America whereby the GOP promised to reduce the deficit/debt by $100B in their first year, how exactly are you going to do that when your first act in leadership of the house is to increase the deficit/debt by $230B?
- Oh … and one last question, could you please explain to me in detail, exactly how this bill, the Health Care Reform bill, ‘kills jobs”?