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: CBC Foundation Legislative Conference On Medicare For All

Because #Obamacare Alone Isn’t Enough.

#MedicareForAll

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CONYERS Condemns Senate Vote To Start Obamacare Repeal Process

Washington, D.C. – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) released the following statement after Senate Republicans voted to start debate on repealing the Affordable Care Act:

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

“I’m horrified by what today’s vote means for poor and working people in this country. The Affordable Care Act is not perfect and I have said this many times. However, in Detroit alone, the uninsured rate has dropped from 22% to 7.4% over the last 3 years. That progress will be undone by today’s vote.

“The proposals that Republicans have on the table will result in more than 50,000 people in my district losing coverage. Nationwide, premiums will skyrocket for those lucky enough to have insurance and Medicaid will be cut by 1/3 - meaning that people will likely die. I don’t say that to be hyperbolic; it’s simply a fact that lack of access to care results in preventable deaths.

“Today’s vote makes clear what I’ve been saying for decades: the only way forward is through a single, national insurance plan: Medicare for All. Virtually every other advanced country on earth uses a government guaranteed model rather than relying on employer-sponsored care through a for-profit insurance industry. These countries spend 30-60% less than we do, with longer life-expectancy and lower infant and maternal mortality rates. We are the richest country on earth. It is a moral failure that we lag so far behind the rest of the world on healthcare. When Democrats regain control of Congress and the White House, it is essential that we invest in Medicare expansion and extend it to every American.”

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CONYERS on House passage of TrumpCare

Washington, D.C  – Congressman John Conyers, Jr., the Dean of the House of Representatives, released the following statement after Republicans passed TrumpCare on a party-line vote:

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

“I’ve served in Congress for 52 years and it’s hard for me to recall a time when we’ve voted on something so obviously and intentionally harmful to seniors and working people in this country.

This legislation strips healthcare from 24 million people. It requires seniors to pay 100% or more of their income in premiums. This legislation dramatically cuts Medicaid, directly contradicting Mr. Trump’s claim not to.

Every policy expert who has looked at the Upton amendment has said it is grossly inadequate to fund high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions.

In Michigan, almost one million children, nearly half of all children in the state, rely on Medicaid. In my district alone, 56,000 people will lose coverage, including 16,000 children and 3,500 elderly.

If this bill becomes law, people will die. Children, seniors, and working people will suffer and many will die, all so that wealthy people can get a tax cut.

Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. That’s why I have a bill to create a single-payer, Medicare-for-All plan. Most of the Democratic party has joined me in cosponsoring that bill. Democrats will be in the majority again—given today’s vote that may happen very soon. When it does, I will do everything in my power to make sure a national, universal, government-funded system is our agenda.”

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Judiciary Democrats Release Background Fact Sheet on H.R. 372, the “Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017”

Prepared by Democratic staff of the Committee on the Judiciary

H.R. 372, the “Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017,” would partially repeal the limited Federal antitrust exemption for the business of insurance established by the McCarran-Ferguson Act in 1945. H.R. 372 would only permit federal antitrust enforcement with regard to health insurers.

House Democrats have previously supported a full repeal of McCarran-Ferguson’s antitrust exemption for all insurers, not just health insurers. In 2010, House Democrats also passed more limited legislation to repeal McCarran-Ferguson’s antitrust immunity for health insurers by a vote of 406 to 19. House Republicans had not previously expressed any interest in moving any version of this legislation.

While there has been and continues to be bipartisan support for the repeal of McCarran-Ferguson with regard to health insurers, the Majority has made a series of overstated claims regarding H.R. 372 as part of the so-called “third phase” of their health care “reform” efforts. As such, we do not endorse the Majority’s exaggerated claims that passage of H.R. 372 will somehow create major new competition, significantly improve the affordability and availability of health insurance, or encourage health insurers to sell insurance products across state lines. In reality, this legislation:

·         Will Not Significantly Improve Healthcare Affordability or Coverage. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the effect of H.R. 372 on health insurance premiums “would probably be quite small,” and enacting the bill will have “no significant net effect on the premiums that private insurers would charge for health or dental insurance.”Consumers Union states that the application of the antitrust laws to some health insurance activity is simply not enough to create a vibrant insurance market because our “long experience shows you can’t expect a health care system to run effectively on competition alone.”

·         Does Not Enable Health Insurers to Sell Insurance Across State Lines. Enabling the Federal antitrust agencies to police certain forms of anticompetitive conduct will not in and of itself incentivize health insurers to offer products across state lines. In fact, current state and Federal law, including the Affordable Care Act, already allows states to agree with each other to provide for cross-state insurance sales.

·         Does Not Protect Consumers Against Discrimination or Premium Growth. H.R. 372 only applies to certain anticompetitive conduct and does not change the regulation of health insurance. For example, it does not prohibit discrimination based on preexisting conditions, reduce premium growth, or require health insurers to be accountable for price increases.

·         Does Not Provide the Antitrust Agencies with Necessary Resources to Enforce the Law. If the Administration truly wanted to encourage more vigorous antitrust enforcement in the health insurance market, they would fully fund and appoint heads to the antitrust agencies. Instead, the President Trump’s recently issued budget blueprint would reduce DOJ funding overall, to the likely detriment of antitrust enforcement.

Judiciary Democrats Release Background Fact Sheet on H.R. 372, the “Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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CONYERS: Statement In Opposition to H.R. 1215, the So-Called “Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017”

 

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

Today’s markup of H.R. 1215, the so-called “Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017,” is the twelfth time since 1995 that we have considered legislation intended to deny victims of medical malpractice and defective medical products the ability to be made whole and to hold wrongdoers accountable.

This measure has repeatedly failed because of its many problems, including its trampling of states’ rights. But the Majority is now rushing it to markup as part of their chaotic attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act - even though it will directly impede Americans’ access to safe quality medical care. 

There are so many problems with this bill that I would need 5 hours to discuss them all, but because I have only 5 minutes, here are just a few.

To begin with, H.R. 1215 like so many other civil justice bills we have considered – deeply intrudes on state sovereignty.

Tort law is supposed to be the domain of states. Yet this bill preempts medical malpractice and product liability law in many states. In particular, H.R. 1215 preempts state law governing joint and several liability, the availability of damages, the ability to introduce evidence of collateral source benefits, attorneys’ fees, and periodic payments of future damages. 

Members should not be fooled by assertions that the bill preserves state law.  In truth, H.R. 1215 does nothing to address the fundamental concerns about states’ rights previously raised by Members on both sides of the aisle as it intrudes just as deeply as its predecessor bills into areas traditionally determined by the states.

In fact, the rule of construction expressly states that it preempts state law except in very limited circumstances where state law is more favorable to defendants.  And a number of so-called “state flexibility” provisions simply reinforce one-way preemption where the bill supersedes state laws that are generally more favorable to victims, while leaving intact State laws that are more favorable to defendants.

Further yet, this bill would cause real harm by severely limiting the ability of victims to be made whole.

For instance, it imposes an unjustifiably low cap on noneconomic damages.

The bill’s $250,000 aggregate limit for noneconomic damages -- an amount established more than 40 years ago pursuant to a California statute -- would have a particularly adverse impact on women, children, the poor, and other vulnerable members of society.

These groups are more likely to receive noneconomic damages in health care cases because they are less able to establish lost wages and other economic losses. 

Women, for example, are often paid at a lower rate than men, even for the same job, and are also more likely to suffer noneconomic loss, such as disfigurement or loss of fertility.

Imposing a severe limit on noneconomic damages, therefore, hurts them disproportionately.

Whatever the short term savings, the bill would impose broad social and financial costs in the long term, including the additional strains on Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs caused when malpractice victims are denied full restitution.

Finally, the bill unjustifiably provides blanket immunity for health care providers in medical product liability cases.

It is hard to know why a provider should be entitled to blanket immunity for dispensing a defective or dangerous pharmaceutical or medical device.

This provision also has the potential to indirectly shield pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, who may be able to argue successfully in a product liability action that a plaintiff’s injury can be blamed on a provider’s negligence.

Because the provider would be immunized, the injured victim could be left without any recovery.

The law should not be used to create such an unjust result.

For these and many other reasons, I strongly oppose H.R. 1215 and urge the Committee to reject it.

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CONYERS: Statement for the Markup of H.R. 372, the “Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017”

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

I support H.R. 372, the “Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017,” which repeals the antitrust exemption in the McCarran-Ferguson Act for the health insurance business. 

For many years, I have advocated for such a repeal and so I am pleased to see bipartisan support for this position. 

My own bill, H.R. 143, the “Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2017,” would similarly repeal the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for the health insurance business.

It does so for price-fixing, bid-rigging, and market allocation, the most egregious kinds of anticompetitive conduct.  Additionally, my legislation would repeal the exemption for the business of medical malpractice insurance, as this would be another key component of ensuring competition in health care markets.

There are several important reasons why Congress should repeal this antitrust exemption.

To begin with, there is no justification for such a broad antitrust exemption for the business of health insurance.

Congress passed the McCarran-Ferguson Act in response to a 1944 Supreme Court decision finding that the antitrust laws applied to the business of insurance.

Both insurance companies and the states expressed concern about that decision. Insurance companies worried that it could jeopardize certain collective practices like joint rate-setting and the pooling of historical data.  And, the states were concerned about losing their authority to regulate and tax the business of insurance.

To address these issues, McCarran-Ferguson provides that federal antitrust laws apply to the business of insurance only to the extent that it is not regulated by state law which has resulted in a broad antitrust exemption. 

Industry and state revenue concerns, rather than the key goals of protecting competition and consumers, were the primary drivers of the Act.

In passing McCarran-Ferguson, however, Congress initially intended to provide only a temporary exemption and unfortunately gave little consideration to ensuring competition. 

Not surprisingly, 3 Commissioners observed in the 2007 Antitrust Modernization Commission Report that McCarran-Ferguson should be repealed because it has “outlived any utility [it] may have had and should be repealed.” And, another Commissioner stated that the Act is “among the most ill-conceived and egregious examples” of antitrust exemptions and that its repeal “should not be delayed.”

Given the foregoing, I would encourage the Committee to consider a full repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption in the future.

Antitrust exemptions should be exceedingly rare and should be enacted only where strong policy reasons support such exemptions.

It is far from clear that the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption was ever fully justified, and while I support repealing that exemption for health insurance, it would be worth the Committee’s time to look beyond the health insurance sector.

For example, my bill would have also repealed the Act’s antitrust exemption for medical malpractice insurers, given that a lack of competition among such insurers is one of the reasons for high medical malpractice premiums.

Finally, repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for the business of health insurance is a complement, not an alternative, to the Affordable Care Act.

Repealing McCarran-Ferguson, alone, will be insufficient to help patients and other health care consumers obtain affordable health insurance.

We should remember that the House included language almost identical to H.R. 372 in its version of the Affordable Care Act.

This is not an “either/or” situation.  We need both measures to be in place to maximize benefits, improve quality, and lower prices for consumers.

Nonetheless, I support this legislation and urge the Committee to report it favorably.

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CONYERS: House Republicans Continue Attacks on Women and Affordable Healthcare

Calls for Renewed Focus on Jobs and Expanding Healthcare

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. John Conyers, Jr. voted against the so-called, “Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015” (H.R. 3762), a conservative effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood, which is a leading provider of affordable health care for women and working families. If enacted, this Republican Reconciliation bill would strip 22 million Americans of their health coverage, and would end family planning services and life-saving cancer screenings from millions of women across the country. Fortunately, the White House has promised a veto should this bill reach the President’s desk.

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

“The calendar has changed and the Speaker has changed, but the Republican playbook remains the same: more Republican attacks on women’s health care and affordable health insurance for working families,” said Rep. Conyers.  “Instead of going after Planned Parenthood and attempting to dismantle the affordable health coverage of 22 million Americans, Speaker Ryan and House Republicans should be working on a real priority for Americans: job creation and leveling the playing field for struggling American workers who haven’t yet experienced any economic recovery.”

The Republican Reconciliation bill, which passed the House along party lines:

·      Defunds Planned Parenthood, leaving millions of American women without key preventive health services – including life-saving cancer screenings, women’s health exams, birth control and advice on family planning; and

·      Destroys the Affordable Care Act, effectively dismantling the newfound health and economic security of millions of Americans.

According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), this Republican Reconciliation bill would take away health insurance from 22 million Americans. 

With this bill, House Republicans have now voted 62 times to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, even though the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in 2012.  In addition, the conservative legislators in the House have now voted 11 times in the 114th Congress alone to disrupt women’s access to affordable health care.

“We’ve turned the calendar and now it’s time to turn the page. Congress must focus on growing the economy, creating jobs and improving the lives of working families,” continued Conyers. “I implore my Republican colleagues to end their attacks on the health care of women and working families, and work with House Democrats to accelerate our economic recovery and make the American dream accessible again to every hard-working American.”

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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: Compassion and Common Sense Prevail in the Case of King v. Burwell

Veteran Congressman Applauds Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Key Component of Obamacare

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) released the following statement after theSupreme Court announced its 6 - 3 decision to uphold a core tenet of the Affordable Care Act in King v. Burwell:

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

“Fifty years ago, I was proud to cast my vote for the creation of Medicare.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) represents the most important expansion of Americans’ access to lifesaving healthcare since that time.  For the second time, the United States Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the ACA is the law of the land and ensures that millions of Americans can continue to access affordable health care.   

“Today’s decision—that all Americans, regardless of their home state, have the access to tax credits to afford essential healthcare—is a victory for compassion and common sense.   

“Since the Affordable Care Act was enacted five years ago, more than 16 million Americans have gained coverage and the nation’s uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever –11.9 percent.  More than 5.7 million young people now have health insurance through their parents’ plans and as many as 17 million children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage.  The ACA has also allowed 9.4 million seniors to save $15 billion on prescription drugs.

“After years of debate in Congress leading to passage of the law and two Supreme Court rulings upholding the law, it is time for Republicans to stop attempting to deny Americans’ access to healthcare by attempting to repeal the law.  Recent polling demonstrates that more than half of Americans – including 80 percent of Democrats and a quarter of Republicans – support expanding healthcare further to a ‘Medicare for All’ model. 

“Earlier this year, I was proud to reintroduce H.R. 676 ‘The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act’ to build on the proud legacy of Medicare and the Affordable Care Act to allow Americans to access the same high-quality, cost-effective, and equitable care that’s the standard throughout the industrialized world.  

“Half a century ago, addressing the convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, Martin Luther King Jr. declared, ‘Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.’  Today’s ruling reinforces our crucial work to combat this cruel inequality.”  

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Conyers: Five Years Later, The Affordable Care Act is Saving Lives and Taxpayer Dollars

Washington, D.C. – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. issued the following statement on the fifth anniversary of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act:

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

“Five years ago, President Obama signed into law one of the most important pieces of legislation in a generation: the Affordable Care Act.  Along with some of our most historic legislative achievements, including Social Security and Medicare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) stands as a central pillar of America’s social safety net and a key step toward realizing the universal right to health care.  

“Thanks to the ACA, more than 16 million previously uninsured Americans now have access to affordable high-quality coverage.  At least 105 million Americans have been relieved of the threat of an annual or lifetime limit on care.  More than 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage and women can no longer be charged higher premiums than men for the same plan.

“The ACA has not only been essential for Americans’ health—it’s also been crucial for slowing the growth of healthcare costs.  After more than a decade of runaway cost increases, the growth in health care costs has slowed to the lowest level in 50 years.  The Medicare Trust Fund is more solvent than it has been in a decade. 

“The evidence is clear: the ACA works.  It means greater coverage, better care, stronger consumer protections, and lower overall costs.  I am proud to salute this landmark legislative achievement and look forward to the additional progress that will come of it.”

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America's New Single-Payer Majority

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

The Republican-led House of Representatives just unsuccessfully attempted to undo the Affordable Care Act for the 56th time.

While it's been well established that repealing Obamacare without a plausible replacement would leave tens of millions of people uninsured and worsen our deficits by accelerating the growth in healthcare costs, it's also important to note that this continued GOP crusade to get government out of health care runs directly counter to the stated will of the majority of Americans.

A new poll shows that more than half of Americans -- including 80 percent of Democrats and a quarter of Republicans -- support expanding health reform to "Medicare for All." While Obamacare has been a step in the right direction, more and more people across the country understand that a single-payer healthcare system is the only way to guarantee quality care and at the same time reduce medical costs.

The United States spends almost twice as much per person on health care as any other country, yet our key outcomes -- life expectancy, infant mortality and preventable deaths -- too often lag behind our peers. A recent Commonwealth Fund study ranked the U.S. healthcare system dead last among 11 highly developed countries in terms of quality, efficiency and access to health care.

What are we doing wrong?

One major problem is that billing and insurance-related administrative costs -- in other words, bureaucratic red tape -- cost the American people $471 billion in 2012. That's enough money to pay for our country's whole interstate highway system. At least 80 percent of that extraordinary cost was, according to a respected study, due to inefficiencies in our for-profit, multipayer healthcare system.

By adopting a "Medicare for All" model -- which, by the way, is the standard for health care throughout the industrialized world -- we can achieve hundreds of billions of dollars in cost savings that can be used to cover the nation's remaining uninsured and upgrade coverage for millions of underinsured citizens. While the ACA has brought insurance to 19 million Americans, 13 percent still lack health insurance, including one out of every five young adults. Notwithstanding the fact that the ACA has significantly reduced out-of-pocket costs, 21 percent of insured Americans are still spending 5 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket costs.

This week I was joined by 44 members of Congress in reintroducing the only healthcare legislation that will overcome these persistent challenges to our healthcare system: H.R. 676, or "The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act." This bill has been introduced in every Congress since 2003 and has a broad base of support among healthcare activists, organized labor, physicians, nurses, and social-justice organizations across the nation. The bill has been endorsed by 26 international unions, Physicians for a National Health Program, two former editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, National Nurses United, the American Medical Students Association, Progressive Democrats of America, the NAACP, and countless others.

This isn't just good ethics; it's also good economics. H.R. 676 will boost the economy by enabling America's small businesses to focus on building their companies rather than on dealing with the cost and complexity of providing healthcare for their employees. H.R. 676 keeps the delivery of health care a private matter, enabling health providers to engage in market-based competition and innovation.

Half a century ago, addressing the convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, Martin Luther King Jr. declared, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." It's time to adopt a serious comprehensive plan to address it.

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Conyers Praises Affordable Care Act for Reducing Premiums in Michigan

(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report finding that individuals in Michigan who selected Silver Plans - the most popular plan under the Affordable Care Act - with tax credits paid an average premium of $87 per month. In Michigan, 62% of enrollees who selected Affordable Care Act plans with tax credits had premiums of $100 per month or less, and 39% paid $50 per month or less after tax credits. After the report was made public, Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement:

U.S. Representative
John Conyers, Jr.

“With the release of a report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) checking up on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we have further evidence that healthcare reform is working, and saving Americans hundreds of dollars on their premiums. In Michigan alone, an individual who purchased a Silver Plan – the most popular option – paid an average premium of $87 each month with tax credits. Millions of Americans who were previously unable to obtain health insurance are now able to take comfort in the security that comprehensive coverage affords,” said Conyers.

“According to the HHS report, the average monthly premium for Michiganders dropped by 72% - from $342 to $97 per month - for those who selected plans with tax credits. The report highlights that reforms in the Affordable Care Act have saved consumers nearly $1.2 billion in 2012, and details how the number of requests by insurance companies for double-digit rate increases has been cut by more than half. In addition, as health insurance companies are now required to spend 80 cents or more per premium dollar on healthcare or provide consumers a refund, more than 222,000 Michiganders have received a total of $18,609,800 in refunds.

“The Affordable Care Act’s passage was historic, and the results are in: healthcare reform has reduced costs and increased healthcare access to all. As the calls ‘repeal and replace’ wane, I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to bolster the Affordable Care Act’s protections and work towards truly universal healthcare.”

To read the HHS report online, visit: http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2014/Premiums/2014MktPlacePremBrf.pdf

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