Graham-Cassidy will Kill People

Trumpcare 3.0 will kill people

Single-payer deserves consideration

Just when you thought that the health insurance you could finally afford under the Affordable Care Act was finally safe, two heartless and downright cruel Senators bring up one last repeal and replace bill with the sole justification being, “that’s what we campaigned on.”

The latest edition of Trumpcare 3.0 is decidedly worse than any of its predecessors when measured by the damage done to the 25-35 million people stripped of health insurance, those stripped of basic healthcare all together and the families who will have to pick up the care costs for their young, disabled or elderly parents. All this on top of further restrictions on reproductive healthcare and reductions in other healthcare programs for women

The Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill is being ramrodded through the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who will stop at nothing to undo everything the Black former president put together. They need to get it done before the end of next week when the Senate rules revert back to a 60 “yes” vote requirement for any bill to pass.

Putting the bill together behind closed doors with no public, much less Democratic, input or review, it is being cast as a choice between states rights and the dreaded socialism of the government run single-payer Medicare for All healthcare system gaining increased public support daily. It is being rushed to a vote, before the Congressional Budget office can complete its review and provide the impartial numbers on the damage it will do and the costs involved. It is a true pig in a poke.

What we know is that Graham-Cassidy will roll back Medicaid expansion that gave 14 million Americans health insurance coverage for the first time. The rest of Medicaid, care for the elderly in nursing homes, the disabled, young people in poverty and others, will also be trimmed and converted into lump sum payments to the states with insignificant controls on how each spends the funds allotted creating 50 different healthcare systems for the sickest and most vulnerable. The savings will go to fund GOP tax cuts for the wealthiest and corporations who need them the least.

With insurers being allowed to charge sick people more, health insurance premiums for those still covered will skyrocket. With the elimination of required coverage for pre-existing conditions, the cost of insurance will quickly rise to levels that most Americans cannot afford. One analysis puts surcharges, in addition to the regular premiums, for opioid addicts and those with rheumatoid arthritis at $20,000, $50,000 more for those with serious heart conditions, and over $140,000 for those with metastatic cancer. Another puts a $4500 surcharge on asthmatics, $17,300 on pregnancy and a $72,000 bump on lung cancer.

The state block grants would punish the Democratic states that took Medicaid expansion dollars and reward the GOP states that did not. States receiving the grants will be allowed to apply for waivers from many of the Affordable Care Act requirements that the bill does not repeal directly. If you need a service not covered, you will have to pay for it. ACA premium subsidies will be phased out by 2020. The slow death of federal healthcare funding will continue to 2027 when all federal dollars for the nation’s health will cease.

The deadlines for figuring out your insurance for next year loom. Insurers must sign final contracts for 2018 by the end of next week. If ACA subsidies vanish next year, premiums will explode.  ACA enrollment starts November 1^st. The new bill will eliminate the requirement for everyone to have insurance or pay a penalty. With that gone, many believing themselves to be healthy might not buy insurance at all. That too will drive up premiums as insurers scramble to cover a larger pool of sick people with fewer premium dollars.

Even with the developmental secrecy, negative reaction to the latest

Trumpcare has been swift and severe. Governors from both parties have condemned the bill. The American Medical Association, AARP, the America Hospital Association, most of the major disability advocacy groups, and representatives from just about every significant healthcare organization have urged Congress to reject the bill. Health insurers oppose it too. All 50 of the state Medicare directors oppose it too.

The three holdout GOP Senators’ objections to Trumpcare 1.0 and 2.0 have not been addressed in the new legislation. Hopefully, they will continue to stand up for their constituents like all of the Democrats in the Senate who will vote “no.”

This bill must fail, paving the way for serious consideration of a universal single payer system similar to those used for decades by most of the countries on the rest of the planet. It is time to stop the madness spawned by hatred of all things Obama and for bi-partisan solutions for America’s health.

Waring R. Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the disabled and the elderly.