Forty-two senators, all Democrats and Independents, sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) Wednesday threatening to hold up any effort to eliminate Obamacare’s Essential Health Benefits (EHBs), which Republican leaders in the House promised members would be added to the Senate’s version of the bill.
Obamacare’s EHBs require that insurance plans cover, among other things, pregnancy and maternity care, prescription drugs and pediatric services.
Republicans had previously speculated that benefits currently mandated by Obamacare, like birth control coverage, could be changed in the second or third “phases” of health care reform – that is, regulatory changes overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and additional legislation to be introduced in the future, respectively.
The senators, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), said in a statement accompanying their letter that they had the votes to block any threat to Obamacare’s EHBs, in the current House reconciliation bill or legislation in the future.
“This letter clearly shows that there are enough votes to sustain a point of order on repealing essential health benefits if this provision is included in the House reconciliation bill, and to block a vote if this is considered as separate legislation,” they wrote.
“Any assurances to your colleagues that future legislation to further scale back insurance coverage will pass through regular order if the AHCA is enacted are based on the flawed assumption that the Senate Democratic Caucus will vote to further erode the health care system and strip our constituents of coverage,” their letter added.
Some Republicans in the House of Representatives have warned against rushing the American Health Care Act through the House, only to see it “torn to shreds” in the Senate.
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) said Thursday morning of that prospect: “If I have one more senator tell me this bill is dead on arrival, I think my head is going to explode.”
Read the 42 senators’ complete letter to Speaker Ryan below:
Dear Speaker Ryan,
As a vote nears in the House of Representatives to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you have repeatedly stated that consideration of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) is only the first phase in your plan to replace the landmark law that has resulted in the lowest uninsured rate in our country’s history. More specifically, you have promised consideration of several legislative proposals you falsely argue will help alleviate the devastating impact of the AHCA.
As we understand your plan, you will seek to enact these proposals after Congress uses expedited procedures to consider the AHCA, a bill the Congressional Budget Office estimated would cause 24 million Americans to lose their insurance coverage. Given your plans to pass subsequent legislation through regular order in Congress, we want to correct any misimpression you may have that we will support proposals you have cited as key to your effort. Simply put, these subsequent bills will worsen the damage the AHCA will cause.
Any assurances to your colleagues that future legislation to further scale back insurance coverage will pass through regular order if the AHCA is enacted are based on the flawed assumption that the Senate Democratic Caucus will vote to further erode the health care system and strip our constituents of coverage. We are writing today to inform you that our caucus will not support any efforts that jeopardize the consumer protections our constituents rely upon when they purchase insurance.
For example, we will oppose efforts to eliminate the ACA’s essential health benefits that ensure insurance companies cover maternity care, emergency services, substance misuse and mental health treatment, prescription drugs, pediatric dental and vision care and other vital services. We will also oppose any efforts to lessen our constituents’ access to basic preventative and primary care. Americans reasonably expect that the premiums they pay cover such basic needs, but before the ACA, consumers were often surprised to find their insurance did not. Undermining the value of insurance and requiring that insurance plans cover rudimentary health care services is simply shifting more costs onto patients and taxpayers. Eliminating the ACA’s essential health benefits would merely force the same Americans to pay more out of pocket rather than actually reducing their costs and should not be the “solution” to the premium increases the ACHA will create.
Before you move forward with floor consideration of the AHCA, we urge you to choose another path. For many years, we have acknowledged that despite its successes, the Affordable Care Act is not perfect and it needs improvement. We have always supported sensible improvements to the ACA and believe in working together to improve our health care system for the good of the patients it serves.
Instead of supporting a fatally-flawed, incomplete, partisan bill, we hope you will take us up on our sincere offer to improve health care for all Americans.
Sincerely,
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Robert Casey (D-PA)
Chris Coons (D-DE)
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
AL Franken (D-MN)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Angus King (I-ME)
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Edward Markey (D-MA)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Gary Peters (D-MI)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Brian Schatz (D-HI)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Tom Udall (D-NM)
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Mark Warner (D-VA)
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
