On March 9th, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan did a powerpoint presentation about what was in the American Health Care Act. What he laid out was that this piece of law is essential the first piece of a three-pronged attack. The three-pronged attack being:
Reconciliation – this is the American Health Care Act. They are not able to put in every piece of legislation that they would like in this legislation due to certain Senate floor rules. They don’t want the whole thing to be thrown out before it can be voted on. But that is why this is a three-pronged attack.
Administration Action – Much of the current law has legislation written into it that gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the right to deregulate the market and create more choices in the marketplace.
Additional Legislation – These would be all of the other laws that they are not able to pass in the American Health Care Act because if they did the Senate floor would throw it out. However, if they take these on a case by case basis, he believes that we will see a truly competitive market which could include interstate shopping as well we association health plans.
Speaker Paul Ryan also spent a good portion of his talk exposing the flaws of the ObamaCare. Since the passing of ObamaCare, he pointed out that citizens are seeing their health care options and choices of coverage disappearing. As many as 2,000 counties within the US that initially had 3 or more insurance options in 2016. In 2017 that number has plummeted. In 2016, 200 counties only had only one insurer choice. That is 1 in 3 counties in the US with only one insurance option. Humana has stated that it is planning on pulling out some of those counties which will leave those counties with zero options. While options for insurance coverage are going down, premiums are going up. People are receiving fewer choices, and the price they pay on their premiums continues to rise. In Minnesota, they saw a 59% increase in their premiums. In Tennessee, they saw a 63% increase. And in Arizona, they saw a 116% increase in their premiums. According to Aetna’s CEO, “Obamacare is in a death spiral. It is not getting any better, it’s getting worse”
Look for our next post to cover what is in the American Health Care Act and how we are viewing it.
