Fla. Waiver Request Rejected by Obama Administration for Lack of Evidence

Washington, DC – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today rejected a request from the state of Florida for a waiver from the medical loss ratio rule created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This action prevents consumers from being robbed of $145 million in health insurance rebates due under the health care law. The Florida request was the largest to be decided so far by HHS. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has estimated that families will recover rebates of up to $2 billion under the law.

On Oct. 26, Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, submitted comments to HHS on the Florida application and asked for a public hearing on the matter. In its decision today, HHS said a hearing was unnecessary because of the analyses submitted by HCAN and other consumer groups.

HHS concluded that Florida officials failed to substantiate their claims that unless exceptions to the health care law were granted, consumers would be unable to access health insurance agents and brokers.

Here is a statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on the HHS ruling on Florida’s waiver request:

“The administration sent a clear message to health insurance companies that their days of ripping off consumers are over. HHS also said that politically motivated, bogus requests by extremist governors to protect insurance company profits will not be tolerated. This decision highlights how much money families will save because of consumer protections in the health care law.

“While Republicans want to eliminate this rule and strip all the benefits of the ACA from America’s consumers, the Obama administration is putting $145 million back into consumers’ pockets. Just this morning, House Republicans held a hearing to publicize their false claims that the ACA is harming small businesses, when the truth is exactly the opposite.”

For Immediate Release
DECEMBER 7, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Health Care Jobs Heal Economy While Protecting Lives of Seniors and Families

Washington, D.C. - Protesters from across the country held a speak-out and rally today, calling for Congress to focus on creating jobs rather than proposing health care cuts that harm patients and eliminate jobs from our weak economy. The event was part of a week of actions in support of the "Take Back the Capitol" initiative. On Tuesday, underemployed workers and jobless people joined full-time health care workers in visiting members of Congress. The delegations demanded job security and no cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. Cutting spending on the nation's two main health care programs would result in immediate job losses in most states.

Nikki Brown-Booker, who has had a disability her entire life, traveled all the way from Berkeley, Calif., to recount how Medicaid has helped her personally while providing the opportunity for employment to others. Because of Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, she can hire home attendants to provide services she needs to remain independent and productive at home.

"Thanks to Medicaid, I was able to move out of my parents' house when I was 18, go to college, get a master's degree and become a productive, taxpaying member of the community - all while creating opportunities for others to also work," said Brown-Booker, a marriage and family therapist who works with parents and children who have disabilities.

The health care sector is the nation's biggest job creator, generating 20 percent of the country's new employment this year and accounting for 1 out of every 8 American jobs. Repeated proposals to slash health care programs like Medicaid and Medicare would cripple this engine for job growth and economic recovery and threaten the well-being of countless seniors, children, people with disabilities and working families.

"Instead of investing in jobs, Congress wants to invest in more tax breaks for the wealthy," said William McNary, President of USAction, the nation's largest network of state advocacy organizations and founding partner of Health Care for America Now. "We're not going to let that happen. Every dollar being wasted on tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires should be spent instead on providing and preserving needed health care jobs. Every dollar wasted providing corporate loopholes should be spent on shoring up Medicaid and Medicare, not cutting them. Every dollar wasted on a bloated military budget should be spent providing high quality, affordable health care for all."

Speakers joined hundreds of workers in a march to K Street, where protesters confronted corporate CEOs and lobbyists for some of the country's largest companies, which have avoided paying their fair share of taxes for years. These executives have managed to remain part of the country's wealthiest 1% while the other 99% continue to struggle in the face of constant threats to their health care and their livelihoods.

CO-SPONSORS: AFSCME, Alliance for a Just Society, Campaign for Community Change, Caring Across Generations, Health Care for America Now, Jobs with Justice, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National People's Action, PICO Network, SEIU, USAction.

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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 in response to today's National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) close vote to weaken the medical loss ratio and hand over $1.2 billion in consumer rebates to health insurance companies:

"Insurance commissioners ignored the NAIC's own research findings and supported efforts to rob consumers of $1.2 billion in rebates. The resolution they passed today attempts to eviscerate one of the toughest consumer protections in the health care law, a provision based on the NAIC's own recommendations last year.

"The commissioners who supported this proposal are tone-deaf to the skyrocketing health premium costs of average Americans. Commissioners said that of the many thousands of messages they received from consumers, not a single one supported the resolution.

"This vote was a disgrace. Instead of voting on the facts, the insurance commissioners buckled under pressure from the health insurance brokers and agents who made claims that weren't supported by NAIC data.

"Members of Congress and HHS Secretary Sebelius should dismiss this anti-consumer action, which would weaken the law that holds insurance companies accountable and puts a check on bloated CEO pay and record insurance company profits."

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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.

For Immediate Release - NOVEMBER 18, 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 House vote scheduled for today on a "balanced budget" constitutional amendment proposal that would cripple the economy, put 15 million Americans out of work and doom Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security:

"Requiring a balanced budget every year without regard for the condition of the economy or important national needs would force deep cuts to vital programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and it would remake our country into a society where everyone is on their own.

"The Republican plan would put the gradual elimination of essential programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security into the Constitution. It would permanently protect millionaire tax breaks and corporate tax loopholes while destroying programs critical to middle class and low-income families. It would end the American Dream as we know it.

"Americans would earn less, the economy would shrink and access to decent health care would exist only for the wealthy. As one independent economic analysis found, the effect on the economy would be catastrophic.

"The Republican proposal not only discourages sound long-term investments in our future - it prohibits them. If the Republican proposal applied to household budgets, families would have to pay cash-in-full for their homes or their kid's college education instead of taking loans to fund the investment. The Republican proposal is designed for a 1% world, not for the rest of us.

"The balanced budget amendment may have an appealing title, but it masks what it would really do."

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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.

Seniors, workers who rely on overwhelmingly effective social programs tell Congress to fight for jobs and the middle class, not for the greed of the wealthiest 1%

Washington, D.C. - Frustrated constituents from across the country spent this morning urging lawmakers to "wake up" and protect Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security from cuts being discussed in the waning days of the Super Committee negotiations.

Seniors, people with disabilities and workers started the day early by waking up Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), a member of the Senate minority leadership, in "alarming" fashion at Bistro Bis, a local restaurant. Carrying gold alarm clocks and signs, angry protesters shut down a breakfast fundraiser for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Senator Kyl, the keynote speaker, hurried out as protesters entered the restaurant and chanted, "It's a new morning, it's a new day; Wake up Congress and make the 1% pay." Protesters followed Sen. Kyl to his vehicle and demanded to know if the Senator plans to protect the 99% of people who depend on these critical services or the richest 1% of Americans who don't want to pay their fair share of taxes.

To see video of 99% activists shutting down the fancy fundraiser for Sen. Hatch hosted by big health care corporations, click here.

Ferrol Wegner, 84, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, traveled to Washington all the way from Des Moines to find out why Sen. Kyl is so alert when he's listening to the wealthiest 1% of Americans but his attention drifts away when the subject is the concerns of average people. "We want him to listen to the 99%, not just the 1% who can afford to come to these fundraisers," Wegner said. "We expect members of the Super Committee to act in the best interests of the majority-people like me who depend on Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security every day-instead of the richest 1% who only care about protecting their wealth."

Protesters then joined a larger crowd outside the restaurant and marched to the Dirksen Senate Office Building for a rally with Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The senators, joined by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), urged their colleagues on the 12-member Super Committee to reject cutbacks to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Seniors, faith leaders and people with disabilities from Massachusetts, Montana, Ohio, New Jersey, Iowa, Illinois and other states recounted personal stories about the devastation they would suffer if the bipartisan Super Committee slashes Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

The 12-member Super Committee is considering cutbacks for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as it approaches a Nov. 23 deadline for a deficit reduction plan. Cuts in those programs would irreparably harm seniors, workers, people with disabilities and America's middle-class and low-income families. At the same time it is contemplating various cuts, the Super Committee members continue to dismiss demands from the public that the deal accomplish its deficit-reduction goal by raising taxes on wealthy corporations and individuals instead of just cutting benefits from people who receive benefits from Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Dr. Jessica Eng, a physician from Boston Medical Center, the largest safety-net health care provider in New England, described how the proposed cuts would harm her patients and the health of millions of others across Massachusetts and the nation. Dr. Eng echoed the message that no Super Committee deal is better than a deal that cuts Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Following the Senate rally, participants fanned out to visit the offices of Super Committee members and deliver the alarm clocks that should wake them up to reject any budget plan that cuts Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security for the 99% while protecting the richest 1%.

"Some Super Committee members are drawing a line in the sand, with the 1% on one side of it and the rest of America on the other," said Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now. "Lawmakers should stay strong for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and demand that the super-rich and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes. No deal is better than a bad deal."

CO-SPONSORS: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Alliance for a Just Society, Alliance For Retired Americans, Campaign for America's Future, Campaign for Community Change, Caring Across Generations, Health Care for America Now, International Longshore And Warehouse Union, National Committee To Preserve Social Security and Medicare, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Nurses United, National People's Action, PICO Network, SEIU, Social Security Works and Strengthen Social Security Campaign.

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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.

For Immediate Release
NOVEMBER 10, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Numerous Conflicts of Interest Make It Impossible for Thomas to Render Fair, Impartial Decision on Affordable Care Act

Washington, DC - U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has significant conflicts of interest that make it impossible for him to render a fair, impartial decision in the health care case being reviewed today by the Court, according to Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's largest grassroots health care advocacy organization.

"Justice Thomas has so many conflicts of interest he should recuse himself," said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. "Political groups determined to repeal or overturn the Affordable Care Act have been filling his family bank account for years. His wife Virginia has been a crusader in the campaign to defeat the law. She has raised money and taken money from organized efforts to kill health reform.

"At the same time, Justice Thomas personally has aligned himself with political activists and organizations dedicated to thwarting the law. He spoke at a secret conclave run by the billionaire Koch Brothers to raise funds for organizations like Americans for Prosperity. There is simply no way that Justice Thomas can render a fair decision in this important case."

Justice Thomas failed to disclose until January that his wife received income of nearly $690,000 between 2003 and 2006 from the Heritage Foundation, a leading proponent of overturning the Affordable Care Act.

Seventy-four members of the House of Representatives have taken the highly unusual step of requesting that Justice Thomas remove himself from participation in deliberations on the Affordable Care Act. If Justice Thomas fails to recuse himself, it will threaten the integrity of the entire Supreme Court.

A conservative group has issued a call for Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself from the same case. "This is part of a politically motivated and baseless attack designed to divert the public's focus away from the substantive and compelling evidence of Justice Thomas's conflicts of interest," Rome said.

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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.

For Immediate Release - OCTOBER 27, 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, has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to hold a public hearing on the state of Florida's request to be exempted from rules that would require insurance companies to send $140 million in premium rebates to families. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health insurers that fail to spend at least 80% of premium revenue on actual health services must give back the difference to consumers. Florida's submission to HHS failed to provide any evidence that the MLR would destabilize the health insurance market and does not warrant a special exception from HHS.

"At a time when insurance companies are making record profits and families are struggling to make ends meet, taking away rebates from consumers is unjustified and unconscionable," said Ethan Rome, HCAN's executive director. "The state offers no justification for its proposal to undercut this pro-consumer regulation. If the state of Florida gets its way, consumers will lose $140 million in rebates and insurance companies will get that money instead."

Other states have asked HHS to let their health insurers spend more than the maximum 20% of their premium revenue on profits, CEO pay, marketing, lobbying and administration. But Florida stands alone in seeking an adjustment on such a massive scale. HCAN believes that an open hearing as permitted by recently adopted HHS regulations would serve the public interest and expose the substantial flaws in Florida's request. If approved, the hearing would be the first of its kind.

According to HCAN's letter to the Department, the state offered no evidence that insurers would leave the state market, that consumers would have to do without the services of agents and brokers, or that anyone would go without coverage due to the rule.

Florida's request emerged from a highly charged political environment. Prior to his election, Florida Governor Rick Scott led an industry-backed campaign against passage of the ACA, and the governor has since refused to implement various provisions of the law. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has consistently been opposed to a meaningful rule on how much insurers must spend on actual health care. He led an effort to weaken the pro-consumer rule at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Governor Scott made his personal fortune at the helm of a hospital company that systematically defrauded federal health care programs. The company pleaded guilty to 14 federal felonies and was forced to pay a record $1.7 billion in criminal fines and civil penalties to the Justice Department. In 2009, with financial help from right-wing billionaires Charles and David Koch, Scott used his high-profile opposition to health reform legislation as a springboard to the governorship.

The insurance commissioner has been working for more than a year to deny these rebates to consumers, beginning in September 2010 with a sham hearing that he submitted to HHS as evidence supporting the Florida request. This state hearing was an invitation-only showcase for insurers and brokers to attack the rule, and consumers were denied the right to testify on the record.

"Florida's insurance commissioner should be using this law is to lower premium increases, not to gouge consumers," Rome said. "The goal is to lower premiums not reward companies that can't compete. The governor and the commissioner should spend less time opposing the law and more time implementing it so consumers get premium relief."

To read HCAN's letter to Secretary Sebelius, click here.

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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.

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 Rep. Denny Rehberg's (R-MT) proposal that the Super Committee eliminate the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion and subsidies to help consumers buy insurance:

"Rep. Rehberg's proposal is yet another part of the Republican assault on the middle class. Denny Rehberg says that basic health care is a luxury item, as if a mother in Montana taking her children to the doctor or a cancer patient getting treatment is the same as buying ‘an expensive vacation home.'

"Any cuts to these essential programs would endanger the health of our parents, kids and neighbors, put the livelihoods of hardworking Americans at risk and hurt small businesses. Montana needs leaders who will create jobs, not take a meat ax to their communities.

"What Rehberg wants to do would devastate families and businesses in rural areas, where consumers pay more for health insurance and receive less care. Rehberg would stifle entrepreneurs trying to start new businesses and create jobs. Denny Rehberg has the wrong priorities.

"The only way the Super Committee can pass a rational, balanced plan is to ask corporations and the super-rich to pay their fair share of taxes, not to cut health care for kids, seniors and working families. Instead of asking the top 1% of taxpayers to pitch in and support their country, Rehberg wants to take health care away from the other 99% and make it harder for small businesses to survive. It's time for Denny Rehberg to stop siding with insurance and drug companies and other big corporations and do what's right for Montana and the nation."

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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.

For Immediate Release - OCTOBER 6, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

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."

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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 three years to win passage of health reform and to keepCongress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

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."

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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.