Health Care For America Now

This post originally appeared on the Health Care Expert Blogs of the National Journal in response to the question Should President Obama Address Health Care in State of the Union? The post also appeared on The Huffington Post.

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.

Pictures and video clips will be posted later today at http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org and http://other98.com/citizens-united-supreme-court-action/.

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.

For Immediate Release – JANUARY 19, 2012
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

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.

Click here to download a copy of this letter.

Health Care for America Now has joined with the National Women's Law Center and many others in an Amicus Brief in Affordable Care Act Case headed to the Supreme Court.

The brief has been filed by the NWLC and more than 60 other groups in the United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al v. State of Florida, et al case going before the Supreme Court on March 26. NWLC Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger said in a statement:

"Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate the national health care market – and the discrimination against women that is rampant in it – is settled law. Requiring insurers to provide coverage to anyone who seeks it, regardless of health status, will remedy the long-standing practice of refusing to sell insurance to women with so-called ‘pre-existing conditions’ such as pregnancy, a previous Caesarean section, or a history of having survived domestic abuse."

Organizations joining the brief include the American College of Nurse-Midwives, National Council of Women’s Organizations, Black Women’s Health Imperative, National Council of Jewish Women, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, National Partnership for Women and Families, and the Older Women’s League.

In the debates and campaign ads leading up to the New Hampshire primary a new strain of Republican politics has suddenly surfaced — a brand of compassionate capitalism that, were it to come from President Obama, Newt Gingrich would describe as socialism.

Gingrich has led this emergence with his blistering critique of Mitt Romney for being too good of a capitalist. There’s even a movie produced by a pro-Gingrich super-PAC that powerfully tells how Romney ruined people’s lives in his relentless quest for profits. Driven by the words of fired workers and a riveting anti-corporate script that could have been written by Michael Moore, Romney is blasted for shamelessly making big money by closing American businesses and eliminating thousands of jobs. I must admit, it's exciting to see what it looks like when the GOP puts capitalism on trial. In the past Romney would have been a Republican hero, a businessman who had what it takes to make tough economic decisions. But in this latest bizarre phase of GOP presidential politics, the guy is a monster.

Apparently the Republican field also hates special interest money in politics and the revolving door between government and corporate America. For weeks the candidates have hammered Gingrich for taking $1.6 million from Fannie Mae to be a “historian.” He’s laughably insisted that he never lobbied any of his former colleagues to earn that fee. Ron Paul and others have whaled on Rick Santorum for taking lobbying money from coal companies and insurers after he left the U.S. Senate. Imagine, a former elected official trading influence for cash!

But if Romney’s critics were serious (and they’re not), they'd be saying an “anything goes” approach to the free market isn't right. They would say he and all the other Wall Street sharpshooters made money at the expense of others and wronged thousands of innocent folks who believed in the American Dream.

The Republican hypocrisy is whiplash-inducing, even by the declining standards of American politics. Not that long ago Gingrich said that U.S. Senator Chris Dodd and U.S. Representative Barney Frank should go to jail for passing the landmark financial reform law that bears their names because it regulates the Romneys of Wall Street. Meanwhile the Republicans in Congress are practically employees of banks, Big Oil, insurance companies and other corporations that put profits before people.

As the candidates head into South Carolina, maybe they’ll reveal what they propose to do about the outrageous free-market excesses they’ve discovered. Exactly how would they control the Romneys of the world—teach classes on compassion and restraint at Harvard and Wharton? How have they explained this to their corporate owners and political sponsors like the billionaire Koch Brothers? I suspect the Kochs have a lot of respect for Bain Capital, the corporate vehicle Romney used for his turbocharged pursuit of private equity profits. Bain Capital made money by snatching up companies on the cheap, stripping valuable assets and even shutting some of them down. Bain collected a ton of cash while eliminating jobs and devastating families and communities. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Since the Republican presidential candidates say they like regular people now – even working and middle-class folks like the ones who give testimonials in the attack film against Romney – they should tell the Republicans in Congress to extend unemployment insurance and the payroll tax reduction. And they ought to pay for it by imposing higher taxes on the super-rich, a policy overwhelmingly supported by the American people, including the millionaires who would have to pay more.

The Republicans running for president will obviously say and do anything to get elected, even if they sound like Democrats for a little while. Whatever they may say about Romney, all the Republicans are captives of big corporations that see our country as little more than a market to exploit for their private gain.

The 1 percent and the Republican politicians they own are tearing away the foundation of one of our country’s greatest inventions, the middle class. Led by the Koch Brothers, right-wing extremists are working to undermine our democracy as well.

That’s why the Democrats have to make the 2012 election about whose side the candidates are on. Are they for the 1% and the big corporations that want to destroy the middle class, or are they fighting for the rest of us? Are they for an America “where everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share,” as the President said in Osawatomie, Kansas? Or are they for an America where the rich get richer while everyone else is left to fend for themselves in an ugly race to the bottom.

These are very different visions of our country. That’s why members of Congress and the President can’t give any ground on key issues like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. If everyone is in favor of cuts to these and other important programs, then the boundary between the two sides will be blurred beyond recognition, and the choice will not be clear on Election Day.

Why Would Wyden Want to Join Ryan in Picking the Pockets of Seniors and Calling It a 'Big Idea'?

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 yet another plan from Rep. Paul Ryan to eliminate Medicare as we know it:

“This is just another attempt to eliminate Medicare as we know it. It's a purely political proposal, and it's just another version of the Ryan Republican plan to do away with Medicare and bankrupt seniors, but this time it's got one Democrat on board. Ron Wyden’s support doesn't make it bipartisan, and it doesn't change the fact that this plan is about turning over the Medicare Trust Fund to Wall Street and the health insurance companies and replacing guaranteed benefits with vouchers.

“Every Republican plan to ‘reform’ Medicare or Medicaid is just another way to shift health costs to seniors who cannot afford to pay more. I just don't understand why Senator Wyden would want to join Paul Ryan in picking the pockets of America's seniors and calling it a big idea.”

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.”