Big players in the insurance industry, which has mostly held back public criticism of the GOP’s Obamacare repeal push, eviscerated a Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)-sponsored provision that was included in the latest version of the Senate legislation.
“It is simply unworkable in any form and would undermine protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions, increase premiums and lead to widespread terminations of coverage for people currently enrolled in the individual market,” Blue Cross Blue Shield and America’s Health Insurance Plans said Friday in a rare joint letter to Senate leaders.
The Cruz proposal, known as the “Consumer Freedom Option,” would allow insurers to sell plans that would be free of many Affordable Care Act mandates if they were also selling Obamacare-compliant plans.
Insurers and outside health experts had already been raising their concerns with the idea when it was being discussed in the abstract, warning the it segment the market between healthy people choosing the non-compliant plans and sick people the comprehensive ACA ones. The insurers upped their complaints in the letter Friday.
“This would allow the new plans to ‘cherry pick’ only healthy people from the existing market making coverage unaffordable for the millions of people who need or want comprehensive coverage, including, for example, coverage for prescription drugs and mental health services,” the insurers said.
It had been an open question whether Senate GOP leaders would include the amendment in the base legislation they unveiled Thursday, with Cruz promising he would vote against it if it was not.
The Cruz language in the latest bill was placed in brackets to signify that it was still a work in progress, Senate aides said.
The insurers also bashed the details of the proposal that became clear after it was unveiled, including an apparent attempt of have the non-compliant plans and the ACA plans share a single risk pool.
“That is not the case. The Consumer Freedom Option establishes a ‘single risk pool’ in name only. In fact, it creates two systems of insurance for healthy and sick people,” the insurers said.
They said that the $70 billion added to the new draft to offset premium increases for the sick “is insufficient and additional funding will not make the provision workable for consumers or taxpayers.”
They went on to predict that the proposal “will lead to far fewer, if any, coverage options for consumers who purchase their plan in the individual market.”
“As a result, millions of more individuals will become uninsured,” the letter said.
One more GOP defection from the legislation, which already has two Senate Republican opponents, would kill it even before the Senate could advance it procedurally, in a vote slated for this coming week.
After the initial vote is taken to advance legislation, there will be an amendments process where the Cruz proposal could be struck, as insurers are urging. The parliamentarian may also find it violates Senate rules concerning the process the GOP is using to push the legislation.
Read the full Blue Cross Blue Shield/AHIP letter below:
This presents a problem. For quite some time now, the GOP has put forward the idea that no person who challenges their ideas can be trusted. For example, if you are a litigator on the Mueller team and are registered as a Democrat, then you can’t possibly be ethical. The examples are endless.
But…but…these are corporations, and corporations are people. And…these corp-people are saying that this isn’t a good idea. And…we’re supposed to do whatever corporations want. And…of course corporations know better than bureaucrats what is good for everyone. But…but…they seem to be saying that having people insured is good…and they can’t possibly be venal, because they’re corporations.
And how will this impact campaign contributions? Who knew that health care was so complicated?
He really wants to outdo Trump in terms of being vile and loathsome.
Definitely gets my vote so far today but it’s still early.
I don’t know what game he thinks he’s playing, but he’s losing. I bet everyone wishes he would just go away.
But I don’t want the Democrats to take away my Freedom. I’m going to call Rafael Cruz right now and tell him to “Filibuster for Freedom”
Neither Rethugs nor Dems are willing to face (and solve) the real problem underlying the US health care nightmare. The true culprit is the horribly unhealthy American populace. Until the people take far more direct responsibility for their own health, it won’t matter how much legislation is passed, health care services will continue to cost more and the system will continue to fail. Insurance premiums are high because people are so unhealthy, and the demand for treatment is skyrocketing.
Eat a plant-based diet
Cut down enormously on sugar consumption
Cut down on animal protein
Do a moderate amount of physical exercise
Allow Medicare/Medicaid to negotiate drug prices with Big Pharma
Subsidize super foods (spinach, broccoli, kale, beans, garlic, onions, etc)
That’s all that needs to be done to put a massive dent in the cost of health care. Lower the demand and the cost of treatments will plummet. No one can legislate our way out of this easily-reversed health crises. We, the people, can solve this (to a great extent) on our own. Eat plants, people.