A Health Care War On The Poor
Many criticisms have been leveled against the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Better Care Reconciliation Act- the new Senate health bill offered by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The unmistakable hallmark of these bills, however, is that they constitute a very cruel war on the poor. By far, no demographic group would be hurt more by these legislative proposals than low-income people. They are the bulls-eye!
This war on the poor began with the debate about payments for cost-sharing reductions that help low-income people afford health insurance deductibles and co-payments. President Trump won’t commit to making such payments, and House Republicans have sued to stop them. The House-passed bill, however, takes the assault to a new level – and, in at least one very significant respect, the Senate bill is much worse after 2025.
As the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found, over the next decade the largest cutback in the Senate and House bills are reductions to the safety-net Medicaid program (a $772 billion cut in the Senate bill, and an $834 billion cut in the House bill).
Additionally, there are significant cuts to the subsidies that were designed to make private insurance premiums and cost-sharing affordable for low- and moderate-income families, with $424 billion cut in the Senate bill and $276 billion cut in the House bill.
These decreases, which would cause enormous harm to low-income families, are obviously not part of an overall sch...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Kathleen Sebelius and Ron Pollack Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Medicaid and CHIP AHCA Trumpcare Source Type: blogs
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