Health Care For America Now

For Immediate Release - SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on the Republican presidential candidate debate and today's first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act's Patient Bill of Rights:

"During a discussion of vaccines at the GOP presidential debate last night, Rick Perry said, ‘I will always err on the side of life, as a governor and as the President of the United States.' If only that were so. The Texas governor has for years demonstrated his lack of concern for life by not lifting a finger to reduce the skyrocketing population of uninsured Texans. One of every four Texas residents has no health insurance, forcing many of them to go without access to life-saving care. The state rate is an astonishing 62% higher then thenational rate, meaning Texans are far more likely to die prematurely or file for bankruptcy.

"Perry isn't the only one suffering from severe health care denial. The Republicans in last night's debate used extremist language to attack the Affordable Care Act at least 17 times. All of them would rather spout their ideological boilerplate than admit that the health care law has broken the insurance companies' death grip on our care.

"Here's the reality: Today marks one year since the health care law's Patient Bill of Rights took effect, enabling 1 million uninsured young adults to get health coverage. It has ended insurance company abuses like lifetime limits on health benefits and bans on excluding children with pre-existing conditions from coverage. This law hasgiven millions of seniors more affordable prescription drugs and free preventive care through Medicare. But the Republicans are holding fast to their anti-Obama talking points, so don't expect to hear those inconvenient truths from them."

-30-

Health Care for America Now is the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past three years to win passage of health reform and to keepCongress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

By Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

Just the other day in Iowa, GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry said, "The American dream was available to me because America was never set up as a class society." A classless society? It's too bad the Texas governor didn't alert the Republicans in Congress before they started mouthing off about how President Obama's tax proposals are "class warfare." Republican leaders were caught flat-footed on Monday, and the class-warfare talking point was the best they could do.

But this claim is nonsense. As the president said, "This is not class warfare, it's math." It's also the right thing to do. The country is in a jam, and everyone needs to pitch in. The president made a forceful argument that it's a matter of fairness to ask the wealthiest in America to do their part. Specifically, the president wants fewer than 450,000 of 144 million taxpayers to pay a bit more. That barely qualifies as shared sacrifice, let alone "warfare." And let's not forget that the wealthy did pretty well under the Bush tax cuts.

The fact is that even if the GOP wanted to do they right thing, nearly every Republican in Congress has signed Grover Norquist's "Taxpayer Protection" pledge to oppose civilization and never raise any taxes in any way, ever - including closing corporate loopholes or asking the super-rich to pay a little more. Both of those things would actually help the middle-class taxpayers the Republicans pretend to protect.

Given the sweeping nature of Norquist's cult-like pledge, it effectively makes members of Congress who adhere to it less than full members because they've signed away their ability to use all the tools available to solve problems that involve money, and money-type problems come up a lot. The Republicans like to say that every problem is a spending problem. Well, when hedge-fund managers pay lower tax rates than families that can only dream about having enough money to invest in a hedge fund, that's a tax problem, not a spending one, and it's best fixed by changing the tax code.

Virtually every Republican utterance and action in the deficit debate has been reckless, irresponsible and totally driven by politics. Now that we're entering the official election season, it's naive to think Republicans would start governing now. But the pressure is on. The president has made serious proposals, and the GOP has to figure out how to go respond with a lot more than empty bumper-sticker lines like "class warfare." Slogans won't help much when the Super Committee gets down to business.

It's old news that the GOP functions as a wholly owned subsidiary of insurance companies, Wall Street banks and other big corporations. But these are new times. When the Republicans fight tooth and nail to keep three one-hundredths of one percent of taxpayers from paying their fair share, it's a stark reminder that they won't stand up for America's working and middle-class families no matter how bad people are hurting.

Many of the GOP's traditional allies in the business community know we need to take action now to get the economy moving with more resources and initiatives like the president's jobs plan. But the Republican Party's loyalty to inside-the-beltway extremists like Norquist exceeds even their commitment to serving their corporate patrons, and that's saying something.

The president isn't talking about class warfare. He's talking about economic firepower, and that's what America needs right now.

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on today's Affordable Care Act grant awards of $109 million to 28 States and the District of Columbia that will help fight unreasonable premium increases and protect consumers:

"Only 18 months after it was enacted, the health care law is protecting families and small businesses from outrageous premium hikes. Thanks to this second round of grants to states, the era when insurers could jack up rates at will is over.

"This funding will make sure that insurance regulators continue to build technical expertise that enables them to spot unjustified rate hikes and take steps to protect the public. Along with new standards for medical-loss ratios, rate review is putting downward pressure on health insurance premiums and making them more affordable for consumers and small businesses."

-30-

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.

By Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

While the Republican candidates for President made it clear in their debate this week that they are happy to let uninsured people die if they have a serious illness, the Republicans in Congress are plotting to make people with insurance pay even more for their coverage to boost insurance company profits. How? By stealing nearly $2 billion in rebates that insurance companies owe consumers and small businesses and giving the money back to the insurers.

At a time when families are struggling to make ends meet, this would be an astonishing transfer of money from consumers to the already overflowing coffers of the health insurance industry, whose top five companies alone made $11.7 billion in 2010.

The heist is being promoted by the Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. They want to repeal a provision of the Affordable Care Act, known as the medical-loss ratio (MLR). The MLR sets a minimum percentage of premiums (80 percent for individual and small-group plans and 85 percent for large group plans) that insurers spend on actual medical care instead of wasteful overhead, excessive profits and bloated executive compensation. Under the law, companies that fall short of the minimums must rebate the difference to consumers. The GOP thinks repealing this requirement is such as good idea in this weak economy that they're holding a hearing on it Thursday.

The rebates are huge because insurance companies overcharge so much. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that consumers will receive $1.4 billion in rebates in the coming year. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners says the rebates could hit $2 billion.

Already the MLR rule is saving consumers money. Some insurance companies in California, Connecticut, Michigan and North Carolina have already rolled back rates, declared premium holidays or issued direct refunds. In Connecticut, policyholders saw rate decreases of as much as 19 percent. That's how the law is supposed to work - it forces insurance companies to change their pricing and makes them pay if they don't.

But the GOP cares more about the insurance companies than consumers and small businesses. You might even say the industry and other corporate interests and campaign contributors own the Republicans in Congress.

In fact, the health care and insurance industries have given the Republicans holding Thursday's hearing more than $21.7 million in campaign contributions, according to a new analysis by Public Campaign Action Fund. Maybe that's why they are willing to take so much money from consumers and give it to health insurers even as they rake in record profits on the backs of families and businesses being crushed by a bad economy.

We desperately need to help working and middle-class families, support small businesses and put America back to work. That's what our representatives in Congress should be doing, not robbing money from people trying to keep up with their bills.

Cross posted on the Huffington Post here.

For Immediate Release - SEPTEMBER 13, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, expressed outrage today at comments made last night at a GOP forum in which presidential candidates indicated they'd sooner abandon an uninsured person to die than see the government play a role in providing access to life-saving health care.

In response to questions from CNN's Wolf Blitzer, candidate Ron Paul said people should go without insurance if they like, and audience members shouted that a severely ill person should be allowed to die if he had no health insurance. Paul said uninsured people with expensive, long-term medical problems should turn to their churches and relatives rather than expect to be helped by a government safety net. None of the other presidential candidates objected.

See a clip of the GOP debate exchange here.

"Last night the Republicans made a shocking public display of their brazen disregard for the well-being of 50 million uninsured people," said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. "When the GOP talks about the freedom of uninsured people to wither and die, they're also talking about restoring the freedom of insurance companies to jack up your premium rates, deny your care and abuse families and small businesses. That's the way it was before the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. They reject the idea that our government has any role at all in setting rules that stop insurance companies from mistreating the public and that make health insurance affordable for families and small businesses. Republicans have zero concern about the needs of working and middle-class families who cannot afford the medical care they need."

Lack of health insurance causes 45,000 deaths a year in the U.S. Witnessing members of the audience at Monday's Tea Party forum shout that it would be better to let a 30-year-old man die than to have our government provide access to health care tells us all we need to know about the real family values of the Republicans, Rome said.

-30-

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.

For Immediate Release - SEPTEMBER 13, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on today's report from the U.S. Census Bureau on health insurance coverage in 2010:

"The Census Bureau report is fresh evidence that full implementation of the Affordable Care Act can't come soon enough. The economy is in rough shape, and when people lose their jobs, they lose their health insurance. The ACA will stop this madness and make sure people have health insurance no matter what happens.

"Even in its first phase of implementation, the health care law has expanded coverage, helping 500,000 young adults get insurance - many of them through new access to their parents' health plans. The numbers of people who will be have access to life-saving health care will grow exponentially in 2014, when the main coverage expansions of the Affordable Care Act take effect."

-30-

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.

For Immediate Release - SEPTEMBER 8, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-744-1925
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on President Obama's plan to create jobs:

"Tonight the President asked Congress to take concrete actions to create jobs and support America's working and middle-class families. The President challenged Congress to decide whose side they are on and to support his American Jobs Act.

"The President's jobs bill will make a real difference in peoples' lives. The Republicans have supported its key provisions before and Congress should adopt the plan right now.

"Throughout these tough times, the Republicans have made clear they would rather protect big corporations and the super-rich than put America back to work. The GOP has acted to protect tax loopholes for corporate jet owners and Big Oil instead of protecting America's struggling small businesses and families. If the Republicans had their way, they'd decimate Medicare and Social Security and give more tax cuts to the very wealthy - proposals that won't create a single job or help any businesses keep their doors open. It's time for the Republicans to put politics aside and stand with America's working and middle-class families.

"The President also made clear that we need everyone to pitch in by paying their fair share of taxes. There is simply no way to create jobs, support business and revive the middle class unless big corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share."

-30-

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.

For Immediate Release - SEPTEMBER 8, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on today's 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rulings on the Affordable Care Act:

"Today's court decisions in Virginia removed politically motivated legal roadblocks to implementation of the Affordable Care Act. This law is not going to be stopped by political or judicial sabotage. Opponents should stop playing politics with people's health care. The protections against insurance company abuses such as discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions are here to stay. Along with previous rulings issued by the 11^th and 6^th circuits, these decisions make clear that health care reform must move forward."

-30-

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.