CONYERS Condemns Trump Efforts To Sabotage Obamacare; Strip Health Care From Millions Of Americans

Washington, D.C. – President Donald Trump announced that he will be cutting off the Cost-Sharing Reduction payments required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to reduce health insurance payments for millions of Americans.  He also issued an executive order that will limit access to care for millions of Americans.

Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) released the following statement in response:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“President Trump and Republicans in Congress have repeatedly tried to dismantle the Affordable Care Act since its passage and implementation. After many failed attempts to repeal ACA at the congressional level, President Trump has turned to using the presidency to chip away at the ACA’s critical protections.

“The cost-sharing reduction payments that Trump plans to end were required by the ACA in order to help millions of Americans access quality, affordable care. Trump’s childish and cold-hearted maneuver to end these subsidies will cause premiums to rise for many hard working American families and cause insurers to leave the marketplace.

“When Democrats regain a majority it's imperative that we pass and implement a single payer, Medicare for All system that covers all Americans and cannot be tampered with by a petulant president. In the meantime, Republicans in Congress must join Democrats in their efforts to protect and build on the Affordable Care Act’s progress.”

According to the Congressional Budget Office, premiums will increase 25 percent by 2020 without cost-sharing reduction payments.

Read more about the Trump ACA executive order below.

The Trump executive order to sabotage ACA will:

Limit access to comprehensive health coverage, threatening coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

·         The ACA requires that most health insurance sold to individuals and small employers be comprehensive and include coverage for essential health benefits; the executive order could unravel these guaranteed benefits.

·         Without guaranteed coverage for needed benefits, such as maternity care, mental health treatment and substance use treatment, people may be left with skimpy and inadequate coverage that doesn’t give them access to the care they need and that does not offer adequate financial protection against serious medical conditions.

Undermine health insurance markets and increase costs for consumers.

·         Both proposals in the executive order will create an unleveled playing field by allowing certain insurance plans – “short-term” plans and association health plans – to play by different rules.

·         As healthier and lower cost consumers get cheap junk plans with skimpy benefits that may not meet their health needs, older, sicker, and higher cost consumers will be left behind with skyrocketing costs for the same coverage.

·         The individual and small group insurance markets could spiral into chaos and consumers may be left without any access to affordable insurance options.

Leave consumers in the lurch, allowing back-door discrimination based on pre-existing conditions.

·         By expanding short-term coverage, we will return to the days of charging sick people more than healthy people and leaving people with pre-existing conditions without affordable coverage options.

·         Both short-term plans and AHPs are not held to the same standards as other insurance. This means consumers may have little recourse for problems or complaints, and no guarantee that they will have the coverage they need when they need it.

·         The nonpartisan National Association of Insurance Commissioners has consistently opposed proposals to expand AHPs because they undermine states’ abilities to protect their consumers.

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CONYERS & CICILLINE: The Right Approach to Promoting Competition in the Health Care Marketplace

UPDATE:  President Trump just pull the Bill form the vote.

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

Healthy competition in the health insurance marketplace is one of the most critical elements in ensuring that Americans can access quality, affordable health care. When insurance companies are forced to compete, the American people win.

Unfortunately, too many families are still paying higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs today because of anti-competitive practices that health insurance giants are allowed to engage in under the law.

One of the reasons? It’s a law few Americans have ever heard of—the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945.

Under this law, insurers can engage in egregious actions like price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocation with total impunity. These practices allow insurers to inflate their costs and impose burdens on middle class families all across our nation.

That’s why House Democrats have supported the full repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act since 1988, and passed legislation to end this antitrust exemption for health insurers in 2010 by a vote of 406-19.

This week, we worked with the same Republicans that opposed this measure in 2010 to pass H.R. 372, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act, legislation that repeals the antitrust exemption that has shielded health insurers for more than 70 years.

As the Council of Economic Advisors put it last year, robust enforcement of antitrust laws is “an important way in which the government makes sure the market provides the best outcomes for society with respect to choice, innovation, and price as well as fair labor and business markets.”

But make no mistake: while promoting competition in state markets will benefit consumers, the benefits will be lost if Republicans are able to repeal the strong consumer protections that exist as part of the Affordable Care Act.

These protections, which the American people overwhelmingly support, ensure that health insurance markets operate efficiently, lift limits on lifetime coverage amounts, and protect millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions from discrimination.

Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act dramatically increased the number of health insurers operating in local marketplaces, which has helped slow the growth rate in premium costs to their lowest level in 50 years.

In order to protect the progress we have made over the last seven years, it is critical that we work to strengthen the Affordable Care Act.

Yet, since Election Day, Republicans and President Trump have been squarely focused on repealing the law in its entirety and replacing it with a proposal they claim will establish a national marketplace for health insurance.

In fact, the same architects of the Majority’s “repeal and replace” effort—including Speaker Paul Ryan, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady—voted against repealing health insurer’s antitrust immunity in 2010.

They now claim that simply allowing the sale of insurance across state lines will serve as a magical elixir that brings down health care costs for good.

There’s only one problem with this claim: it’s already permitted under ObamaCare.

Section 1333 of the Affordable Care Act already allows states to establish “health care choice compacts” to allow out-of-state health insurers to sell health insurance products in-state.

Several states have already enacted statutes to provide for healthcare choice compacts. The National Conference of State Legislature reports that five states have passed out-of-state purchasing laws since 2008.

The fact is that promoting health insurance competition across state lines, as opposed to cracking down on anti-competitive practices, does little to lower costs for consumers. In fact, despite the existing law, few health insurers choose to engage in cross-state sales because there is little economic incentive for them to do so.

President Trump’s repeal and replace proposal will not change this underlying reality.

The president would be wise to withdraw his proposal and instead focus on joining our bipartisan effort to work across the aisle to improve and strengthen the Affordable Care Act.

Today, thanks to ObamaCare, the uninsured rate is at an all-time low, seniors are paying less for their prescription drugs, millions have received coverage under Medicaid expansion, and the number of competitors in local markets is growing.

The Affordable Care Act is improving Americans’ health care coverage and choice. President Trump owes it to the American people to build on this success rather than tear it down.

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Medicare at 50: A Cost-Effective and Compassionate Model

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

WASHINGTON – Thursday, July 30, 2015,  U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) will host a special forum, “Medicare at 50: A Cost-Effective and Compassionate Model.”  Wendell Potter, health insurance whistleblower and Senior Analyst at the Center for Public Integrity, will moderate the event.  The forum will highlight the successful Medicare program, the advancement and challenges of the Affordable Care Act, and the proposed “Medicare for All” healthcare system will be discussed among the featured panelists.

WHO: Rep. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)                     

Wendell Potter, moderator, Health Insurance Whistleblower, Center for Public Integrity

Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy, National Nurses United

Robert Zarr, President, Physicians for a National Health Program

Andrea Miller, Executive Director, People Demanding Action 

      Don Berwick (via video), former administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid    

      Services

WHAT:  Forum to discuss the successes of Medicare, review the major advances and challenges of the Affordable Care Act, and chart a path towards the proposed “Medicare for All” healthcare system.

WHEN:   Thursday, July 30, 2015 for 1:00p.m. to 2:45p.m.45 p.m.

WHERE:  2237 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. (map)     

The event will be streamed live and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/cqopRQ1kT-s

Rep. John Conyers (MI-13) is the last remaining member of Congress to have voted for the passage of Medicare in 1965.  He is the lead sponsor of H.R. 676, “The Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act,” which would create a single-payer healthcare system in the United States.

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Conyers Hails Report Showing Affordable Care Act Premiums Significantly Lower Than Projected in Detroit & Other Cities

(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report demonstrating how, under the Affordable Care Act, increased competition in the federal Health Insurance Marketplace will lead to increased competition and lower health insurance premiums across the country. Specifically, the report details how premiums will be 16 percent lower than originally projected, and that the average consumer will have 53 different healthcare plans available for purchase on the Health Insurance Marketplace. Following the release of this report, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement:

U.S. Representative

John Conyers, Jr.

“I am delighted to see that a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services has clearly demonstrated how the Affordable Care Act is working to increase healthcare marketplace competition which means lower premiums and increased choice for residents of metropolitan Detroit and consumers across the country,” said Conyers.

“Prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans were unable to afford health insurance, or were outright denied coverage, typically due to a pre-existing condition. However, beginning January 1^st of next year, near-universal health insurance will be extended to all. In addition, due to robust competition spurred on by provisions of the Affordable Care Act, a variety of low-cost plans will become available to meet the lifestyle needs of any family or individual.

“For the median family of four In Detroit, a basic ‘Bronze Plan’ would cost only $118 a month, and an intermediate ‘Silver Plan’ would cost only $282 a month, with federal credits. For the average 27 year old, a basic ‘Catastrophic Plan’ would cost only $105 a month, a ‘Bronze Plan’ only $138, a ‘Silver Plan’ only $157, and a high-end ‘Gold Plan’ only $181 monthly.

“I encourage my constituents in Michigan who lack health insurance, as well as all individuals around the Nation without coverage, to take advantage of these affordable options next Tuesday, October 1^st when the online health insurance exchanges open. Those with private insurance or insurance provided by an employer will be able to keep their coverage. As reports continue to come out highlighting the positive ways the Affordable Care Act is reshaping the healthcare industry, I look forward to working with both my constituents and fellow lawmakers to make implementation of the law a success.”

###

The Department of Health and Human Services report on health insurances rates in all states can be found online here: http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2013/MarketplacePremiums/ib_marketplace_premiums.cfm
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DOJ Petitions Supreme Court To Review Health Care Challenge

DOJ Petitions Supreme Court To Review Health Care Challenge

By Chris Morran on September 29, 2011 12:15 PM

(BenBalter)

It was inevitable that it would come to this; it was just a matter of which side would make the request first. Yesterday, the Dept. of Justice filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the nine robed ones to review the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

Three Circuit Courts of Appeal have ruled on challenges to the Act, with courts in Virginia and Ohio upholding the constitutionality of a portion of the law that requires all people to purchase some sort of health insurance, ruling that the mandate fell under the umbrella of the Commerce Clause because one's decision to not purchase health insurance qualifies as an act that has a direct impact on interstate commerce, by shifting the cost of the uninsured person's medical care on to others.

However, the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit disagreed with this line of thinking and ruled that the mandatory coverage section of the law is unconstitutional.

In a statement on its decision to petition the Supremes, the DOJ writes:

“

The Department has consistently and successfully defended this law in several court of appeals, and only the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled it unconstitutional. We believe the question is appropriate for review by the Supreme Court.

"Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed. We believe the challenges to Affordable Care Act — like the one in the 11th Circuit — will also ultimately fail and that the Supreme Court will uphold the law.

”

This isn't actually the first time the Supreme Court has gotten involved in the health care reform legislation. Earlier this year, it shot down a petition from the Attorney General of Virginia, who had asked the court to allow the Commonwealth's case to skip the lower courts and be heard by the Supreme Court.