Area residents across the four-county region could see a $703 increase in health insurance costs in 2018 under a plan proposed by U.S. sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
So says The Century Foundation, which recently published a report that highlights five reasons why the latest repeal and replace effort may be the worst. Lawmakers could vote on the health care proposal next week.
“The report shows that this bill would devastate families in Northwestern Pennsylvania. In McKean and Warren counties, it’s possible that premiums could increase over $700 in 2018. This bill would also decimate Medicaid and strip health care coverage from countless Pennsylvanians,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. “We must stop this misguided proposal and work in a bipartisan way, including holding public hearings, to improve our health care system.”
Casey called the latest “scheme” the most offensive to date.
The Century Foundation states that the proposed bill could increase premiums and force out insurers –– more than any other bill proposed thus far.
What’s more, the bill would replace nationwide tax credits with lower and slower-growing state block grants from 2020 through 2026, the foundation states. The bill would also call for elimination of the mandate for people to purchase insurance.
“The Graham-Cassidy bill would disproportionately harm the health care system’s most disadvantaged consumers,” the foundation stated. “The legislation ends Medicaid expansion and caps the existing program, putting vulnerable enrollees at risk of paying significantly more for care or losing coverage altogether.”
The proposal would also allow insurance companies to put high premiums in place for individuals who have pre-existing conditions.
“Senators are not faced with the choice of the Graham-Cassidy bill or nothing,” the foundation stated. “Since the partisan push stalled in July, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-La.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) held bipartisan hearings on policies to improve market stability. The bipartisan House Problem Solvers caucus put forth a white paper with consensus proposals. And bipartisan governors sent their shared priorities and recommendations to federal policy makers.”
Gov. Tom Wolf is also against the proposal. He sent a join letter to U.S. Senate leadership opposing the Graham-Cassidy amendment.
“Providing and protecting health care for all Americans should be a bipartisan effort,” he said. “I am proud to join fellow governors in calling for Senate leadership to improve and stabilize our health insurance markets through bipartisan supported legislation. We must continue to work on protecting the gains we made in Pennsylvania and many other states that have allowed Americans to access affordable health care. For Washington to disrupt this process now and proceed out of regular order, the faith of the American people in the federal government would be further eroded.”
When asked to provide a comment, Steve Kelly, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said that Toomey and his staff were in the middle of looking over the bill.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., did not immediately return an email seeking comment by press time Thursday.
