Local News Coverage Shows Republican Healthcare Bill Wildly Unpopular Across The Nation – Hospitals, Doctors, and Experts Join Concerned Citizens to Stress Devastating Impact of GOP Bill – Americans Want Their GOP Representatives To Work With Dems In Bipartisan Way To Fix Current Health Care System, Rather Than Forcing Through Repeal Bill That Would Be Disastrous For Health & Wallets Of Millions
Cleveland Plain Dealer (OH): Parents of kids with pre-existing conditions worry about GOP health care bill: Ohio Matters Miami New Times (FL): Senate Obamacare Repeal Could Cut 78,000 Florida Jobs, $8 Billion From State Economy Daily News-Miner (AK): Alaska hospitals fear impact of Senate health bill
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Cleveland Plain Dealer (OH): Parents of kids with pre-existing conditions worry about GOP health care bill: Ohio Matters Miami New Times (FL): Senate Obamacare Repeal Could Cut 78,000 Florida Jobs, $8 Billion From State Economy Daily News-Miner (AK): Alaska hospitals fear impact of Senate health bill ALABAMA
WHNT News: Alabama physician groups worried by proposed health care law changes “As the U.S. Senate debates its version of an overhaul of the American health care system, physicians in Alabama are warning that steep cuts in Medicaid funding would hurt state residents. … The lawmaking process is being closely watched in Alabama, judging by a statement issued by members of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Alabama Academy of Family Physicians. In a joint statement, the medical groups said they are not just speaking for doctors, but also “thousands of low-income Alabamians served by them,” and they are concerned the Senate bill ‘fundamentally changes how Medicaid is funded ...’” [WHNT News, 7/6/17] ALASKA
KTUU - Dozens rally at town square park for March of the Walking Dead “At first glance it may have seemed that Halloween came early but underneath the zombie makeup was a clear and simple message. Organizers at Saturday’s Zombie March are urging the state's Senators to vote ‘no’ on the latest republican healthcare bill. Dozens rallied at Town Square Park holding signs and banners that read ‘save our healthcare’ and ‘Lisa, do the right thing.’” [KTUU, 7/8/17] Daily News-Miner: Alaska hospitals fear impact of Senate health bill “Since Gov. Bill Walker expanded Medicaid in 2015 as allowed under the Affordable Care Act, more than 33,000 Alaskans have enrolled in Medicaid and 10,000 others have obtained health insurance through the act, known widely as Obamacare, according to Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association CEO and President Becky Hultberg. Medicaid is the state-federal insurance program that provides health care for children, pregnant women, low-income adults, the elderly and people with disabilities. The Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, which represents most of the state’s hospitals, estimates this population’s health insurance would be eliminated by 2026 if the Senate bill were to pass. In addition, the restructuring of Medicaid and the likely elimination of Medicaid expansion would result in a loss of $2.4 billion in cumulative Medicaid spending by 2026 in Alaska, the group said. Large portions of Medicaid spending also goes toward in-home services, private practices and behavioral health.” [Daily News-Miner, 7/1/17] ARIZONA
Arizona Public Media: Researcher: Health Care Changes Would be 'Devastating' “Around 400,000 people in Arizona are covered by Medicaid, or AHCCCS, said Daniel Derksen of the University of Arizona's College of Public Health, and $7 billion in proposed cuts would be ‘devastating’ to many in the state. ‘Arizona’s going to be particularly hard hit if these types of bills actually make it through and get signed into law.’” [Arizona Public Media, 7/5/17] KJZZ: Arizona Disability Groups Urge Sen. Flake To Oppose Health Care Bill “Several Arizona disability groups want Sen. Jeff Flake to oppose the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Senate health care bill. It was a tight fit in Flake’s waiting room as members of the community visited the senator’s office to share their fears and concerns about the bill. The ACA replacement has proposed scaling back Medicaid expansion and restructuring the program so the federal government’s contributions are capped. The state estimates it would cost Arizona more than $7 billion by 2026. Leonard Smith, who lives in Phoenix, is on Medicaid and said that pays for a caregiver to come and help him every day. ‘I probably won’t even be able to work,’ Smith said, explaining that the caregiver helps get him up in the mornings. ‘They’d probably end up putting me back in a nursing home.’” [KJZZ, 7/5/17]
ARKANSAS “In demonstrations in Little Rock, Jonesboro and Springdale on Thursday, dozens of people urged U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman to oppose the Senate Republican health care bill. In Little Rock, about 60 people, including several wheelchair users, took turns holding signs, singing, chanting and telling personal stories in the lobbies of the two senators' offices in the Victory Building, near the state Capitol. More than two dozen others held signs on the sidewalk outside. ‘We talk about terrorism -- I feel terrorized now,’ Lewis Sheppard, 62, of North Little Rock said inside the lobby of Cotton's Little Rock office. He said he relies on Medicaid to pay for his doctor visits and prescriptions for high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, and worries about the cuts to Medicaid that are in the Senate bill.” [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 7/7/17] KASU: Senate Healthcare Bill ‘Devastating’ To Arkansas, State Evaluator Says “I would say the Senate bill is without benefit to Arkansas. It so reduces the amount of funding available for Medicaid and for people who need tax credits in order to be able to afford insurance through the marketplace. It withdraws about $1.2 trillion, and that money is basically all re-purposed. Some of it is recaptured in grants to states, about a little over $100 million, but most is deficit reduction or tax cuts for wealthy people.” [KASU, 7/3/17] Arkansas News: Arkansas governor suggests changes to health-care bill “Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday outlined several changes he said he would like to see made to the Senate bill that seeks to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Talking to reporters at the state Capitol, Hutchinson said the bill — which the Senate has delayed voting on so it can be reworked in an effort to shore up support — could cost Arkansas about $500 million a year, by a conservative estimate, and force the state to reduce or end its hybrid Medicaid expansion program, which has provided government-subsidized private health insurance to more than 300,000 low-income Arkansans.” [Arkansas News, 6/29/17] COLORADO “U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner returns to Capitol Hill next week after a Fourth of July break in Colorado that was anything but a respite from the contentious debate over Republican plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Over the roughly week-long recess, Obamacare supporters ramped up their opposition with several ads and protests, including a Denver rally, a demonstration in Colorado Springs and a radio hit by AARP that specifically targeted Gardner, a Republican from Colorado.” [Denver Post, 7/8/17] Daily Camera: Boulder County residents with disabilities rally against new health care bill “About 20 community members with disabilities, their families and allies gathered Wednesday in the Association for Community Living office in Lafayette for #HoldOutForHealthcare. There, concerned citizens were encouraged to reach out to their representatives and senators via email, phone and postcard about the looming Better Care Reconciliation Act. The act, which would begin to phase out Medicaid expansion in 2021 and put caps on funding for all individuals on Medicaid regardless of need, is being vehemently opposed by those who have the most to lose. Paul White, a happy 7-year-old boy, requires around-the-clock care for numerous health reasons. With his medications and gastrostomy tube supplies, among other expenses, costing thousands of dollars a month, the White family relies on Medicaid to keep Paul alive.” [Daily Camera, 7/5/17] Pueblo Chieftain: Disabled Puebloans want commitment from Gardner “The politics of being disabled got a little tougher in Pueblo when a dozen local parents, activists and even a youngster in a wheelchair got tossed out of Republican Sen. Cory Gardner's office Thursday for trying to carry handwritten protest signs into the fourth-floor office at the Thatcher Building. Police were called as well. The small group of activists went back to the sidewalk to wave their signs at cars. The culprits were people such as Kristen Post, who has a son and grandson with Asberger's syndrome, and Stephanie Garcia, whose 36-year-old son has autism and learning disabilities. And there was a family, who asked not to be identified, who brought their 12-year-old autistic son in his wheelchair. The disabled community has been searching for Gardner because they are alarmed about possible cuts in federal Medicaid funding -- the federal insurance program that pays the high medical costs of caring for the severely disabled at home.” [Pueblo Chieftain, 7/6/17] FLORIDA Tallahassee Democrat: Amid GOP defections, Rubio backing health care bill “Rubio argues that Florida’s ‘fiscally responsible’ decision not to expand Medicaid under Obamacare essentially would be rewarded under the Senate bill. … The Commonwealth Fund, which promotes greater access to health care for minorities, the poor and other vulnerable populations, disagrees, saying the state faces the potential loss of $31.4 billion in Medicaid funds through 2026 under the bill. In addition, the left-leaning Urban Institute projects more than 1.5 million Floridians wouldn’t have coverage by 2022 if the Senate bill replaces Obamacare.” [Tallahassee Democrat, 7/8/17] “Last month, analysts at the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund warned that the House plan — called the American Health Care Act (AHCA) — would cut more than 83,000 jobs and $8.6 billion from the Florida economy. Now the Fund, along with with George Washington University's Milken Institute of Public Health, published a similar analysis of the Senate's new plan. Guess what? It would take a nearly identical, devastating chunk out of the Sunshine State's job market. According to the Commonwealth Fund's new data, the Senate deal would cut 78,000 jobs from Florida by 2026, including 52,000 jobs from the health-care sector due to Medicaid cuts. Likewise, Florida's gross output would shrink by $7.9 billion.” [Miami News Times, 7/7/17] Miami Herald: Senate bill could lead to Medicaid cuts despite what Marco Rubio says “The Urban Institute estimated the decline in federal dollars and enrollment for the states. It found for Florida that federal funding for Medicaid under ACA would be $16.8 billion in 2022. Under the Senate legislation, it would fall to about $14.6 billion, or a cut of about 13 percent (see table 6). The Urban Institute projects 353,000 fewer people on Medicaid or CHIP in Florida.” [Miami Herald, 7/6/17] GEORGIA Marietta Daily Journal: Georgians protest health care bill outside Sen. Johnny Isakson’s office “Opponents of the Senate’s health care bill protested outside Sen. Johnny Isakson’s Cumberland Boulevard office on Thursday, saying the bill would harm them and their families and urging him to vote against it. Some of the protesters met with Isakson’s staff to discuss how the bill would affect them. Dana Bowers, operations director for Democracy Spring Georgia, one of the groups that organized the protest, said she delivered about 30 letters on behalf of the other protesters, who requested meetings but were denied. Some of the activists met in a conference room in Isakson’s office and told two of his staffers about their concerns.” [Marietta Daily Journal, 7/6/17] IDAHO Idaho Statesman (Opinion): Senate revisions to Obamacare would harm Idaho children’s mental health “For over 100 years, the Children’s Home Society has focused on the well-being of vulnerable children. We pride ourselves on being a safe haven where children with mental illness receive exceptional services, regardless of the family’s economic situation. We know that serving our children well is a moral imperative — and also one that pays off in the form of successful adults and strong communities. This is why we are extremely concerned about the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act. The Medicaid cuts in this legislation threaten our ability to fulfill our mission. Idaho Medicaid has been a significant source of funding for our children’s services for decades. In fact, 63 percent of our clients are enrolled in Medicaid. The proposed cuts to our long-standing traditional Medicaid program put vital services in jeopardy at a time when we are failing to meet the current needs of our children.” [Idaho Statesman, 7/6/17] “It could have been a wildly overbooked pediatrician’s waiting room. But the 20-plus mothers who packed Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo’s Boise office on Thursday — children of various ages in their arms, cocooned on their backs or sprawled on the floor in idle amusement or fidgety boredom — were there to take shots, not get them. Over the nonstop murmuring of the children, members of a group called Boise Moms for a Brighter Future and their allies politely but sternly gave a member of the senator’s staff a talking-to about what the Senate Republicans’ version of health care reform would mean to their lives as mothers and caregivers, not to mention recipients of health care themselves. The goal of the “mom-in” was to lobby Crapo, a cancer survivor, to oppose the Better Care Reconciliation Act. The bill is undergoing revisions as the Republican Senate leadership seeks to muster the minimum 50 votes needed for passage, with the potential tiebreaking support of Vice President Mike Pence. Recent figures from a report by the Urban Institute and cited by Idaho Voices for Children predict that under the Senate plan, 107,000 Idahoans will lose health coverage over the next five years, 30,000 of them children.” [Idaho Statesman, 7/6/17] INDIANA Indy Star: Indiana GOP asked Facebook for Obamacare horror stories. The responses were surprising “The Indiana Republican Party posed a question to Facebook on Monday: ‘What's your Obamacare horror story? Let us know.’ The responses were unexpected. ‘My sister finally has access to affordable quality care and treatment for her diabetes.’ ‘My father's small business was able to insure its employees for the first time ever. #thanksObama’ ‘Love Obamacare!’ ‘The only horror in the story is that Republicans might take it away.’” [Indy Star, 7/4/17] IOWA Iowa Public Radio: Who Would Enjoy Tax Breaks Under The GOP Health Care Proposals? “There's a lot of talk on Capitol Hill about the tax cuts included in the Republican health plans, but unless you are a frequent user of tanning beds or have personal wealth that puts you in the top 1 percent, you might not feel much effect.” [Iowa Public Radio, 7/7/17] Des Moines Register: Voters urge Grassley not to help ram partisan health care bill through Senate “Several voters here urged Sen. Chuck Grassley Friday to work with Democrats to pass a bipartisan health care bill instead of helping ram through the current Republican bill that would rein in Obamacare. ‘It seems like nothing can ever get done if you don’t listen to each other and work together,’ Deb Egeland of Centerville told the Iowa Republican. ‘… I mean, both parties have intelligent people, good ideas.’ Egeland is a retired park ranger and a registered Democrat but considers herself politically independent. She was among about 25 people who attended the unadvertised meeting with the senator in a conference room at the Rathbun Regional Water Association headquarters.” [Des Moines Register, 7/7/17] KENTUCKY “Kentucky would lose 32,100 jobs in health care and other fields by 2026 under the U.S. Senate bill to replace Obamacare, a study released Thursday estimated. A separate study estimated the average premium under the law would be 49 percent higher in Kentucky for a benchmark insurance plan for marketplace customers than under Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act. The studies dovetail with others that have estimated significant impacts in Kentucky under the Senate bill, including a big increase in the number of people without insurance. For example, the Urban Institute projected that the number of uninsured people in Kentucky would increase from 6.3 percent of the population to 21 percent under the Senate bill.” [Lexington Herald Leader, 7/6/17] LOUISIANA WWL: Paging Dr. Cassidy: Patients hope La. senator saves their Medicaid. “For all of her 33 years, Ashley Volion has refused to back down. Spastic cerebral palsy took away her ability to walk, clipped her speech and withered her hands. But, somehow, Volion controlled the spasms and refined her speech patterns, got a master’s degree in sociology, moved into her own apartment, got a job as a nonprofit policy analyst and even got the University of Illinois-Chicago to let her pursue a PhD in Disability Studies online, from New Orleans. But now, Volion is worried that all her hard-fought gains will be wiped away by proposed cuts to Medicaid as Congress tries, yet again, to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. ‘I’m super worried, because the NOW Waiver and the services that I get through Medicaid allow me to live and work out in the community,’ she said. ‘The flip side of that would be I would be stuck in a nursing home, not being able to contribute to society.’” [WWL, 7/3/17] MAINE “One of us is a doctor in Milbridge, battling on the front lines of the opioid epidemic. The other is executive director of a human needs advocacy group in Washington, D.C., battling on the front lines of the health care and budget fights in Congress. We are deeply concerned – as are many Maine families – about proposed massive cuts to Medicaid, both in terms of dollars (hundreds of billions) and the number of people who would lose care tens of millions of Americans. Why are we so concerned? Let’s look at the numbers. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, 267,000 Mainers received quality health coverage through Medicaid or through the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Most Medicaid recipients are children, pregnant women, seniors and people with disabilities. Maine is a relatively poor state (almost one-third of Maine’s residents are considered low-income); roughly one in five people receives coverage from Medicaid or CHIP.” [Portland Press Herald, 7/7/17] MISSISSIPPI Commercial Dispatch (AP): Analysis: Stakes high for Medicaid changes in Mississippi “Some of that fear was on display Thursday, when the Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities rallied in front of the Jackson offices of Republican U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker. Scott Crawford, the group's chairman, said members of his group fear limited Medicaid dollars in the future would push the state into cutting services that help people live independently, instead of in nursing homes. ‘It would eventually degrade services for people with disabilities,’ Crawford said.” [Commercial Dispatch (AP), 7/3/17] MISSOURI “The Senate Republican health care bill could blow a huge hole in Missouri’s budget, by cutting federal funding for Medicaid and limiting how much the state can raise in tax revenue for its contribution to that health care program. The Senate proposal, released by GOP leaders in June and subject to ongoing legislative tweaks, would cut federal spending on the Medicaid program by $772 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The measure would also restrict the ability of Missouri and other states to charge hospitals, nursing homes and other providers a fee that currently helps the state pay its share of Medicaid. The two changes ‘would have massive budget implications for the state at the worst possible time,’ said Dave Dillon, a spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association. Advocates fear the reduced revenue would force state legislators to dramatically shrink access to Medicaid, potentially cutting off services for Missouri’s disabled, elderly and low-income residents.” [Springfield News-Leader, 7/8/17] Kansas City Star: Protesters urge Sen. Roy Blunt: ‘Keep us covered.’ “About 60 protesters, umbrellas open, rallied outside Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt’s office and urged him to vote against the health care bill championed by U.S. Senate Republicans. The umbrellas were symbolic — the protesters chanted, ‘Keep us covered.’ ‘The bills that the Senate have been working on … put all of our coverage in danger, whether you have an employer-based health care plan, whether you use Medicaid, Medicare, if you have pre-existing conditions,’ said Jake Lupardus, 39, who organized the protest with Indivisible Kansas City.” [Kansas City Star, 7/7/17] MONTANA Great Falls Tribune: Health care panel: Tell Sen. Daines to oppose health care bill “A panel of health care providers told nearly 40 people at a forum Thursday to let their U.S. senators, specifically GOP Sen. Steve Daines, know they oppose a Senate health care proposal that would replace and repeal the Affordable Care Act, cut funding for Planned Parenthood and hurt Medicaid expansion. Panelists at a health care forum sponsored by the Montana Nurses Association at the Lewis and Clark Library in Helena said Democratic Sen. Jon Tester already had come out against the proposal by Senate Republicans and that they should concentrate on Daines. ‘Tester is not the issue,’ John Goodnow, chief executive officer of Benefis Health System, said. ‘It’s just an issue in Montana for Sen. Steve Daines.’” [Great Falls Tribune, 7/6/17] NEBRASKA “Omahan Lisa Schwetschenau, 48, developed three lesions in the months it took for doctors to diagnose her with MS three years ago. ‘Every time I get a new lesion, that’s a little part of my brain I can’t get back, and I don’t want to be wheelchair-bound,’ Schwetschenau said. ‘I’d like to keep as much of my mobility as possible.’ She relies on medication that costs $75,000 a year to slow the progression of the disease, for which there is no cure, and she’s worried about the future of federal regulations that require health insurers to provide prescription drug coverage with no annual caps.” [Omaha World-Herald, 7/5/17] NEVADA Las Vegas Review Journal: Obamacare repeal and replace will hurt Nevada, Sandoval says “Gov. Brian Sandoval said Wednesday a U.S. Senate plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act remains a major threat to Nevada’s future fiscal health. The governor said with no proposed changes that would address Nevada’s decision in 2013 to expand Medicaid, he cannot support the legislation. Sandoval said both he and U.S. Sen. Dean Heller remain opposed as they announced at an event in Las Vegas last month.” [Las Vegas Review Journal, 7/5/17] NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte Observer: Floating health care protest held outside Tillis’ lake home “Protesters unhappy with the Senate’s health care bill held an unusual demonstration outside North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis’ home on Lake Norman Friday. Members from the group Progress NC and North Carolina residents who support the Affordable Care Act sailed in front of the Republican senator’s lake house in multiple boats, demanding Tillis speak with voters about the bill. The group said they were angered because Tillis hasn’t held a town hall or spoken with constituents about the bill. Tillis’ office said he is waiting to see what changes will be made to the bill before reaching a decision on whether to support it.” [Charlotte Observer, 7/8/17] Herald Sun: 33 percent in NC approve of Senate health care bill, Raleigh-based poll finds “But the Better Care Reconciliation Act is not that popular among North Carolinians, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling. Just 33 percent said they approve of the Senate bill, while 53 percent said they disapprove of the measure.” [Herald Sun, 7/3/17] “Eight-year-old Keira Esainko hand-delivered a letter to Sen. Richard Burr’s office this week, asking him to remember her baby sister when he votes on the proposed Senate health care bill. Her 18-month-old sister, Lena, has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that damages the lungs and digestive system and has no cure. Lena takes about 40 pills a day and is hooked to an airway clearance machine for a minimum of one hour a day. ‘My mom and dad explained the AHCA (American Health Care Act) to me and I would really like you to vote against it,’ the letter by the rising third-grader at Jefferson Elementary read. ‘I think it would be unfair if Lena and everyone else who is sick couldn’t go to the doctor because they can’t afford it.’” [Winston-Salem Journal, 6/30/17] “The momentum in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act next week has expanded into a comprehensive national health care overhaul that is likely to sweep up patients who have nothing to do with Obamacare. Among those who could be deprived of medical services are nearly 2,400 ‘medically fragile’ children in North Carolina whose ventilators, oxygen tanks, feeding tubes, catheters and round-the-clock nurses are covered by a little-known Medicaid program available to middle-class families with private health insurance.” [News & Observer, 6/30/17] NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck Tribune: Hoeven hears criticism of Senate health care overhaul “There were a handful of other people who came to Altru to talk with the senator, some who identified themselves as ‘concerned citizens’ and none of whom spoke favorably about the bill. Hoeven himself said he ‘doesn’t support the bill as it stands,’ but said the Senate is moving through a process that he believed would better meet its goal of improving access to health care and addressing premium rates. Molmen also said he didn’t support the bill but described the interwoven health care and insurance industries as ‘incredibly complex,’ a sentiment echoed numerous times throughout the two-hour roundtable. He also said he believed the Senate timeline with the bill is ‘too aggressive’ for the size of the task it sought to accomplish.” [Bismarck Tribune, 7/5/17] OHIO “Michael Spitzer, a 2-year-old from Upper Arlington, says hello to everyone -- even in the grocery store. He likes hot dogs and French fries and watching airplanes fly. ‘He dances to any music that is playing,’ said his mother, 37-year-old Lauren Spitzer. ‘So in an elevator, even if it's bad elevator music, that kid is dancing.’ Michael also is a little kid living with cystic fibrosis -- a condition that affects the lungs and, for him, means aggressive treatment for coughs. Michael is healthy right now, but his condition could change anytime. Spitzer says she's concerned about how the proposed Republican health care bill in the U.S. Senate may affect her son's access to medication if he needs it in the future.” [Plain Dealer, 7/6/17] Marketplace: In Ohio's opioid crisis, Medicaid cutbacks could be disastrous “In the senate health care bill, there's at least one issue that comes up again and again: Medicaid spending, and more specifically, how much to cut it. Medicaid is a pretty big deal in Ohio, which is a Republican-controlled state. Ohio expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, an effort that was championed by Gov. John Kasich, who's also a Republican. Under this expansion, over 700,000 people were able to enroll in Medicaid. There's another thing that makes the Medicaid debate so important in Ohio: the opioid epidemic. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Ohio is one of the hardest-hit states.” [Marketplace, 6/30/17] OKLAHOMA The Oklahoman: Analysis: Premiums will rise for many in OKC under Obamacare replacements “Health care bills in Congress would increase insurance premiums for low-income and middle-class Oklahoma City residents buying coverage on a health care exchange but leave rates for high earners largely unchanged, according to a nonpartisan analysis.” [Oklahoman, 7/2/17] PENNSYLVANIA New Castle News: Veterans groups despair Medicaid cuts “The battle over the future of Medicaid in the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has given little attention to how reduced funding will affect military veterans. Veterans groups are now speaking out, saying rolling back financial support for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the low-income and vulnerable, could put at risk the 1.7 million veterans receiving Medicaid benefits.” [New Castle News, 7/6/17] Morning Call: Pat Toomey fields questions on health care bill, but protesters unswayed “When Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey went to a Harrisburg TV station Wednesday to take questions from a live audience, he was greeted by an increasingly familiar sight. Protesters rallied outside the studio, many holding signs criticizing his support for Senate Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare.” [Morning Call, 7/6/17] SOUTH CAROLINA The State: Medicaid is saving her daughter’s life. She worries the GOP’s bill could change that “Amy Bredeson hears the question but waits to answer until she moves out of earshot of her 11-year-old daughter, Chloe. Then, in a lowered voice, the 40-year-old Bluffton resident explains what she fears will happen if Congress passes a proposed rollback of federal spending on Medicaid, the program that provides insurance primarily to the poor and disabled. ‘If we took her off the drug, the brain tumor could grow back very quickly,’ Bredeson says of a $15,000-a-month pill Chloe takes each morning, which also prevents seizures. ‘The cysts on her kidneys could start growing again, and she could need a transplant a lot sooner. I think things would go downhill quickly for her.’ Bredeson is one of more than 1 million S.C. residents who depend on Medicaid – in her case, to pay for Chloe’s expensive treatment for a pair of life-threatening diseases. Many of those South Carolinians will watch anxiously as the U.S. Senate returns Monday to consider a proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. That plan is expected to cut rising Medicaid costs by $772 billion over a decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.” [The State, 7/8/17] TENNESSEE Daily Times: Group rallies against Senate health bill in Maryville “Members of Tennessee Health Care Campaign had a special reason for staging a rally for affordable health care along East Lamar Alexander Parkway Monday afternoon. ‘We’re here because this street is named after Lamar Alexander,’ said THCC Executive Director Walter Davis, calling out the longstanding U.S. senator from Blount County. ‘He has a tremendous amount of power that he’s not using. And he’s making some real mistakes in the statements he’s making about the legislation currently in the Senate.’” [Daily Times, 7/4/17] TEXAS KXAN: State of Texas: Cruz health care proposal raises new concerns “Cruz says he’s against the bill because it does not do enough to cut costs. An amendment he authored would require each insurance company to offer at least one plan that includes all the benefits currently covered by the Affordable Care Act, but would also allow companies to offer other lower-cost plans that don’t cover everything. … The Center for Public Policy Priorities says the amendment would create an unsustainable, ‘de facto high risk pool’ for sick people buying to more comprehensive plans. ‘We know that premiums skyrocket when the only people who buy a certain kind of insurance are really sick,’ said CPPP Policy Analyst Stacey Pogue. ‘The problem with doing that in this bill is if you’re low enough income and you get a subsidy, you get some protection. But if you don’t, if you’re an individual who earns more than $42-thousand dollars a year, there’s no help in the Senate bill for you.’” [KXAN, 7/9/17] Brownsville Herald (AP): Cruz faces hecklers, calls Senate health plan 'precarious' “U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz held a lengthy but civil debate with a small group of hecklers defending former President Barack Obama's health care law in his home state's capital Thursday night — even as he expressed doubts about whether the Republican plan to repeal and replace it will pass the Senate. The former presidential hopeful was in a hotel conference room in the liberal bastion of Austin for a town hall organized by Concerned Veterans for America, a group funded by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers. Access was strictly controlled and the first 20 minutes featured only sympathetic questions.” [Brownsville Herald (AP), 7/6/17] UTAH “A recent study by the Urban Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C-based economic and social policy think tank, found that 586,000 nonelderly Utahns — or 72 percent more people — would be uninsured in 2022 under the Senate plan compared to the ACA. Under the current law, the institute estimates that 341,000 people would be uninsured under the ACA in 2022. This percentage increase puts Utah at No. 31 for the most detrimental effects of the Senate measure on uninsured rates, with the worst being West Virginia at 309 percent higher, the study estimates.” [Salt Lake Tribune, 7/8/17] Deseret News: Groups say ACA repeal without replacement could hurt 200K Utahns “Two organizations warned Monday that repealing the Affordable Care Act without legislation in place to immediately replace it is a major gamble that could cause as many as 200,000 Utahns to lose their health insurance, many of them within months of the law being killed. The Utah Health Policy Project, a think tank and nonprofit enrollment network that helps people obtain insurance, and Voices for Utah's Children, an advocacy group that pushes for policies supporting various childhood wellness metrics, believe federal lawmakers would run a significant risk by banking on the passage of a replacement health care bill at a later date.” [Deseret News, 7/3/17] WEST VIRGINIA Huntington Herald-Dispatch (AP): West Virginia's Capito in a spot with GOP health care bill “West Virginia's Republican senator, Shelley Moore Capito, is under pressure from those in her state opposed to Medicaid cuts in the Senate GOP health care bill. West Virginia has one of the country's lowest median incomes. It's home to some of the worst rates of drug overdose deaths, smoking, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and disabilities. Around 3 in 10 West Virginians are on Medicaid, making it the state most dependent on the health insurance program for the poor, disabled and nursing home residents.” [Huntington Herald-Dispatch (AP), 7/8/17] Wheeling Intelligencer: W.Va. Among States Most Harmed by GOP?Health Care Plan “West Virginia ranks sixth in the nation among states projected to be harmed the most under Senate Republicans’ proposed health care plan, according to a new report. In an article released by the Economic Policy Institute and titled “Health Care’s Biggest Losers,” Max B. Sawicky writes that Senate Republicans’ Better Care Reconciliation Act “would increase premiums and deductibles even higher than those currently paid” under the Affordable Care Act. Average premium costs in West Virginia would increase by 108 percent under the proposed Better Care Reconciliation Act, compared to the current Affordable Care Act.” [Wheeling Intelligencer, 7/7/17] WYOMING Wyoming Tribune Eagle: Growing elderly population could strain Wyoming’s Medicaid program “While the number of Wyoming residents signing up to receive Medicaid benefits has gone up and down since 2014, the number enrolling is expected to rise in the coming years, especially among an increasingly larger population of older residents, said Tom Forslund, Wyoming Department of Health Director…With so much uncertainty, Forslund said he’s unable to say whether he’s optimistic or pessimistic about Congress’ attempts to reform health care. As Wyoming’s older population increases, he said it’s a concern. ‘That elderly population, our numbers are going to increase significantly,’ he said. ‘(One concern is) we’re going to be getting more people coming into this system in nursing home care at a time when we’re capped.’” [Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 7/1/17] ### |
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