On January 20, 2012 Health Care for America Now Executive Director Ethan Rome sat down with radio show hosts from across the country at the Families USA Health Action 2012 conference.
Listen to clips from the radio programs:
The Thom Hartman Program
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Jeff Santos on Labor Owned Radio
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The Rick Smith Show
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Washington, DC – Here is a statement about tonight’s State of the Union address from Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization:
“President Obama laid out a clear, sensible vision to restore the health of America’s economy, create jobs and address the income inequality that is weakening our nation. America needs to rally around this plan.
“But before the President even walked into Congress tonight, the Republicans were trash-talking his speech. They're too busy trying to hurt him politically instead of helping the country with real ideas and a willingness to roll up their sleeves and get things done.
“Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who took a break from his campaign to silence workers' voices on the job to give the GOP rebuttal, showed that the Republicans' priority is to gain political advantage no matter how badly that might hurt America’s families and businesses. Daniels recycled tired Republican rhetoric and bankrupt ideas to cover up the GOP's relentless assault on the middle class.
“Daniels can't hide the record. The Republicans have opposed making health care affordable, they’ve blocked every effort to create jobs, they’ve been trying to undermine the laws that hold banks accountable and they’ve rejected every step needed to revitalize the U.S. economy.
“As the Republicans pursue their toxic brand of hyper-partisan politics to help the 1 percent and the wealthiest corporations and ignore the rest of us, President Obama outlined concrete plans to give everyone a fair shot at achieving the American Dream.”
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Health Care for America Now is the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.
HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on Free Speech TV: "We're going to expose [Koch brothers front group] Americans for Prosperity all over the country."
In his State of the Union address, President Obama has a compelling story to tell the country about the importance of health security to America's middle class and why we have to stop the Republican assault on Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA is an extraordinary accomplishment and is already making a huge difference in people's lives by making health care more affordable for families and businesses and protecting consumers from insurance company abuses. Along with Social Security, these bedrock programs are essential to ensuring that everyone in this country has a fair shot at achieving the American Dream.
The president has plenty of examples to make his case. Thanks to the ACA, 2.5 million young adults were able to obtain health coverage this past year. The worst practices of big insurance companies, including denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, are now against the law. Health care is becoming more affordable for small businesses and seniors on Medicare. When fully implemented the law will provide tens of millions of Americans the same range of coverage choices as members of Congress. People will have peace of mind that they will always be able to afford good coverage — even if they lose a job, start a small business or retire early. These are powerful themes the President could discuss, and polling has repeatedly shown that they are highly valued by the American people despite relentless attacks on the law by the Republicans.
The president could use the speech to remind the nation that Medicare and Medicaid are the cornerstones of our health care system and provide equal opportunity for all. We don't want a society that leaves people to fend for themselves when they fall ill. Only if everyone has affordable health care can we have a vibrant middle class to power the world's leading economy.
The stakes are huge. If the Republicans get their way and turn Medicaid into a so-called block grant, millions of seniors would be thrown out of nursing homes. Middle class families would be slammed with crushing health care costs for their parents while struggling to make ends meet, save for their own retirement and send kids to college. Children and people with disabilities will go without needed care. Huge costs will be shifted to state governments, jobs will be lost and the economy will be hurt.
The Republicans want to eliminate Medicare as we know it and send our parents and grandparents into bankruptcy. Their plan would transform guaranteed health care benefits for seniors into a voucher scheme that would send hundreds of billions of dollars directly to private insurance companies. Retirees would be forced to pay two to three times more out of their pockets to care for themselves, and it would fall to adult children and extended families to bankroll the difference - whether they can afford to or not.
Every Republican plan to 'reform' Medicare or Medicaid is just another way to shift health costs to seniors and families who cannot afford to pay more. Were the Republicans to succeed in repealing the ACA, they have nothing to replace it with except a return to the days when consumers were at the mercy of profit-hungry insurance companies.
A lot of work remains to be done, but when it comes to health care the State of the Union is strong. President Obama is fortunate to have a Health and Human Services Department that's doing a solid job implementing the ACA and protecting our health security. We must stand strong to fight the GOP's hyper-partisan attacks on the health care programs that are making America healthier and moving our great country closer to achieving its promise.
The Department of Health and Human Services has rejected the State of Florida's second attempt to be exempted from the medical loss ratio requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
In a letter to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, HHS was in agreement with a letter HCAN sent in protest of Florida's exemption earlier this week. According to HHS, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation did not demonstrate that MLR requirement would lead to decreased consumer access to brokers or insurers in the Florida market.
The rejection by HHS of Florida's exemption will put $145 million in health insurance rebates back into the pockets of Floridians. This second attempt to deny consumers rebates is a politically motivated ploy by extremist Florida Governor Rick Scott, a former health care executive who made a fortune running a company that conducted a massive fraud on Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Part of nationwide week of protest on 2nd Anniversary of Citizens United ruling
Washington, DC –On the second anniversary of the much-despised Citizens United ruling, protesters gathered at the high court and unfurled a large banner reading “U.S. Supreme Koch” to protest the undue influence that far-right special interests and billionaires like the Koch brothers wield over the Court and U.S. politics.
Two years ago, the Citizens United ruling opened the floodgates to secretive and unlimited corporate political contributions and gave a major boost to the rapidly expanding political empire of David and Charles Koch and those of other millionaires and billionaires.
“The Kochs and their kind are engaged in a hostile corporate takeover of our nation’s political system,” said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%. "We've come to the scene of the crime today – the U.S. Supreme Court – to tell the justices exactly what we think of the infamous Citizens United ruling that made that takeover possible.”
“The Supreme Court has undermined government of, by and for the actual people by defining corporations as people and money as speech,” said Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, the largest grassroots health care advocacy organization. “The Citizens United ruling has been a disaster for the middle class, which is under constant assault in Congress and in the Supreme Court by Republicans accountable only to big corporations and the wealthy. It’s crucial that the justices be independent of corporate influences when they rule on matters like the health care case, which will forever affect health insurance consumers and 100 million people who rely on Medicare and Medicaid.”
Insurance companies and other big business interests, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have fought comprehensive health care reform for years, spending millions on lobbying, political contributions and misinformation campaigns that hurt consumers. Citizens United created a toxic political environment in which corporations can spend unlimited sums of money to oppose candidates and legislation that would benefit seniors, families and businesses.
The protesters represented a host of citizens groups, including The Other 98%, Health Care for America Now, Backbone Campaign, Greenpeace, Velvet Revolution and AFSCME.
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Health Care for America Now is the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.
The Other 98% is a grassroots network of concerned folks and online activists fed up with the status quo in Washington. We've been fighting, since Tax Day 2010, against the bankers, CEOs and lobbyists who have hijacked our democracy to serve themselves at the expense of everyone else. We are everywhere. And we are hopeful.
Washington, DC – One year ago today, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Fortunately for millions of Americans who have been receiving important health benefits and consumer protections from the ACA, the Senate rejected the GOP’s actions. Here is a statement about the Republicans’ continuing campaign to undermine America’s health security from Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization:
“The Republicans in Congress want to repeal the health care law even though they have no replacement plan, which they’ve promised from the moment they passed repeal. Instead, they want to give our health care back to the insurance companies and force every consumer to fend for themselves. Their assault on health care is the tip of the spear in the GOP’s war on the middle class. Repealing the ACA would take away health coverage from millions of young adults, force seniors to pay more for prescription drugs, revoke health insurance tax credits from small businesses, and restore insurers’ unfettered power to jack up our rates, cancel our benefits and deny coverage for those with pre-existing health conditions.
“But the Republicans in Congress won’t be satisfied by taking away the ACA’s benefits and protections, which are helping millions. They also want to end Medicare and Medicaid as we know them. The GOP’s presidential candidates have done no better, competing over who would be the first to end cost-saving benefits and consumer protections that are making a material difference in the lives of millions.They’re in a race to see who can destroy America’s seniors and middle class faster.
“It’s just plain wrong that the Republicans, their corporate sponsors and other right-wing extremists are trying to take away these benefits and rights. This is a fight about core values, about whether we want a country where people are left to fend for themselves or one where people come together through programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to provide health security and peace of mind to working families. We must stand strong to fight off the GOP’s hyper-partisan attacks on health laws that are making the country a healthier, fairer place.”
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Health Care for America Now is the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.
Contact:
Don Owens (SSW), (202) 302-5928, dowens@socialsecurity-works.org
Will O’Neill (HCAN), (202) 454-6191 woneill@healthcareforamericanow.org
(Washington, DC)—Social Security Works (SSW) and Health Care for America NOW (HCAN) today unveiled a new guide showing that the Republican Presidential candidates agree: If they had their way, they would raise the eligibility age, cut, privatize or do away with Medicare and Medicaid, two of America’s most successful and popular programs. The guide shows that when these Republican Presidential candidates say we need to “save” Medicare and Medicaid, what they really mean is we need to end Medicare and Medicaid.
“These programs are essential to preserving and expanding America’s middle class,” said Ethan Rome, executive director of HCAN. “The GOP wants to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as we know them as part of their assault on working families and the American dream. The Republicans only care about catering to the big corporations and the millionaires and billionaires who own them.”
“All five support cutting these programs so crucial to the wellbeing of America's children, families and seniors,” said Eric Kingson, co-director of SSW. “These views could not be more out of step with the American people! Medicare and Medicaid protect millions of Americans. Our families, communities, and indeed America’s recovering economy, cannot afford these radical cuts.”
Medicare and Medicaid have much at stake during the early Republican primaries and caucuses. The brief guide from HCAN and SSW includes past and current quotes about raising the Medicare eligibility age and privatization language from Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum.
The groups show how GOP candidates have proposed cutting funding of Medicare and Medicaid to children, families and seniors through the coded phrase of “block grants.”Below are some specific positions the Presidential candidates have taken in their race to the bottom for worst Medicare and Medicaid proposals:
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Social Security Works is the lead group in the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition comprised of more than 320 national and state organizations representing more than 50 million Americans from many of the nation’s leading aging, labor, disability, women’s, children, consumer, civil rights and equality organizations.
Health Care for America Now is the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.
Health Care for America Now sent a letter yesterday to the Department of Health and Human Services opposing Florida's second attempt to be exempted from the medical loss ratio requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
From the letter:
It is clear that the robust Florida individual insurance market will continue to provide options to consumers and, with the MLR in place, consumers will be able to measure and compare their plan options, contain premium costs, and get rebates of $145 million from insurers that fail to provide a good value. We oppose moving backward on consumer protections and urge HHS to reject Florida’s reconsideration request.
Our coalition stands by a strong set of principles for health care reform. Our principles provide a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all.
