Senate GOP Has No Plan To Help Millions Of Americans Losing Health Insurance During Pandemic [HuffPost]

Mitch McConnell and Vulnerable Senate Republicans: “No Urgency” To Act On Health Care

A new Huffington Post report out today details how Republicans in the Senate continue to attack health care – even in a public health crisis. More than 38 million Americans filed unemployment claims, and an estimated 27 million have likely lost their employer-provided health coverage, but Senate Republicans “see no need to act on health care.” They’re keeping a special enrollment period that would make it easier for Americans to get coverage closed and moving forward with their lawsuit to eliminate pre-existing conditions and end Medicaid expansion, which has been a lifeline for rural hospitals. 

“Even in the middle of a deadly global pandemic, Senate Republicans are continuing their all out assault against access to health care,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “Not a single vulnerable Senate incumbent has taken any meaningful steps to hold the Trump administration accountable for their decision to keep special enrollment for health coverage closed or stop the GOP lawsuit to eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions and Medicaid expansion. At a time when millions of Americans desperately need relief, Republicans would rather play partisan games than put the well-being of their constituents first.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Huffington Post: Senate GOP Has No Plan To Help Millions Of Americans Losing Health Insurance During Pandemic

By Tara Golshan

May 27, 2020

Key Points: 

• As millions of Americans slip into unemployment and lose their health insurance during a public health crisis, Senate Republicans still see no need to act on health care.

• More than 36 million people have filed for unemployment benefits due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, meaning millions will be left without health insurance. In mid May, left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute estimated 16.2 million people have lost health insurance once provided by their employer — how roughly half of Americans get their health insurance. That number could be as high as 26.8 million if those who lost their jobs don’t sign up for other coverage, the Kaiser Family Foundation found.

• But the Republican majority in the Senate isn’t interested in pursuing additional emergency relief for those who suddenly find themselves uninsured.

• Staff for Susan Collins referred HuffPost to previous comments the Maine senator made to Bangor Daily News that she was “disappointed” in President Donald Trump for not allowing a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, but did not comment on Congress taking further action on health care specifically.

• Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has repeatedly voted to repeal the ACA, encouraged Americans to sign up for Obamacare if they lose their health insurance. 

• To get covered, Americans will have to navigate the country’s fragmented health care system ― there’s the ACA, known as Obamacare, public options like Medicaid, and COBRA, the federal program that lets individuals continue their former employer’s health care plan at personal cost. As HuffPost’s Jeffrey Young explained, there are barriers to all these options.

• The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates there are 5.7 million people who are not eligible for financial subsidies under Obamacare, and who would have to pay for the entirety of their private insurance plan. COBRA too is cost-prohibitive for many families. The average monthly cost for individual coverage in an employer-sponsored plan is $490, amounting to nearly $6,000 a year — a steep cost for someone without an income.

• And not all Americans will qualify for Medicaid, the public health program for low-income Americans.

• The implication of leaving millions uninsured is a matter of life and death. A 2019 report on Medicaid expansion found there could have been 15,600 fewer deaths if all 50 states expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. There’s a growing body of research that has shown expanded public insurance has improved health outcomes, increasing preventative care and saving patients with chronic illnesses, like kidney disease. 

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and many Republicans have pushed back against the need for additional stimulus during the pandemic, saying they see no “urgency” in passing a fifth relief package. But among the ideas Republicans have put forward, like expanding the PPP program, implementing tax credits for hiring workers or bonuses for rehired workers, health care has largely been left out of the emergency relief debate.

• Health care has been a politically damaging issue for Republicans, who before the pandemic repeatedly attempted to repeal Obamacare, end Medicaid expansion and significantly cut Medicaid funding. The Trump administration has continued to support a GOP lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and pushed an effort to add work requirements for Medicaid. Since the pandemic, the Trump administration promised to use some of the coronavirus stimulus funds to reimburse hospitals treating uninsured patients with COVID-19, but there has been no plan to address the growing millions of uninsured Americans more generally.

• But for now, Republicans aren’t interested in another health care fight.

Read the full story here.

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