January 1, 2018: Offsetting the “Deficit” by Cannibalizing Health Care for Americans

Posted on January 01, 2018 at 12:00 AM

While #45 has been attempting to destroy NATO and cozying up to Vlad Putin, he and his congressional Republicans have been continuing to dismantle health care for American citizens.

By executive fiat, the president has:

• Eliminated CSR’s (cost sharing reductions) which lowers the costs that individual Americans must pay for their health insurance through the ACA (Affordable Care Act),
• Eliminated the “individual mandate” that every person must purchase health insurance. Without the mandate, only the very ill will be insured and they will be forced to pay enormous premiums, or they will do without medical care.
• Eliminated the mandate that health insurance policies pay for EHBs (essential health benefits) which means that a person can discover that Emergency Room visits, prenatal care, and preventive care are not covered and that thousands of dollars “out of pocket” will have to be paid for medical care.
• Eliminated the mandate that all treatments for preexisting health conditions be paid for by the health insurance company.
• Cut funding by 92 percent for Navigators who answer questions and provide assistance with the healthcare.gov website that facilitates purchasing health insurance through the ACA.

And the House of Representatives voted to strip SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) away from 6.5 million veterans of 23000 active duty households who qualify for benefits to feed their families.

Yet again, Medicare and Social Security also are being discussed by Republicans for massive cuts in benefits. Stay tuned.

We must be watchful of all presidential and congressional efforts to shred our national safety net programs to pay for the massive tax cuts that were the very first order of business for this president and his Congress. Republicans have no social consciences and no hearts.

–Karen Pataky, Chair, Health Policy Task Force