Thread by @DonnaYoungDC

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
The @EnergyCommerce Health Subcommittee hearing is now underway
Led by @RepAnnaEshoo
#healthpolicyvalentines #ACA #Obamacare

.@RepAnnaEshoo on Trump's short-term "junk" insurance plans:
We know these plans do not cover #preexistingconditions.
#ACA #Obamacare

.@michaelcburgess: What good is health insurance if you are afraid to use it b/c you can't afford the deductible.
This is the issue I would like to see us tackle.
#ACA #Obamacare

.@MichaelCBurgess insists today's #ACA hearing is just a ruse to distract from Dems' #MedicareForAll draft bill & a plan for government-run healthcare.
"It is concerning that the media knows more than the members of this subcommittee" about it.
#Obamacare

.@RepGregWalden opens his remarks at #ACA hearing by praising @JohnDingell: He taught us all how to legislate.
Despite our best attempts to emulate his "Yes" or "No" questioning, nobody else pulls it off like John Dingell could pull it off.
#Obamacare

.@Georgetown Katie Keith: Short-term plans do not have to comply with #ACA & are allowed to discriminate against patients w/ #PreExistingConditions
71% do not cover Rx drugs.
62% did not cover substance abuse treatment services. None cover maternity care.
#Obamacare

.@Georgetown Katie Keith: Some people enrolled in short-term plans have out of pocket max as high as $30K/lifetime limits.
Plans highly profitable for insurers & tend to only work for those who are healthy. They pose significant risk to those who enroll in them
#ACA #Obamacare

.@PAInsuranceDept Jessica Altman: Lack of consumer disclosure is so troubling in short-term market that we are creating our own consumer awareness campaign to cut through the noise of robo-calls, well-placed ads, misleading website URLs & lot of fine print bombarding consumers.

.@gracemarietweet: Short-term plans are really gap coverage. People buy them because they can't afford coverage that has all the #ACA protections.

.@Georgetown Katie Keith: There's no magic/secret about why they short-term plans are cheaper: They can exclude people with #preexistingconditions.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@PAInsuranceDept Jessica Altman: 70% of the difference in price between #ACA plans & short-terms plans is due to short terms excluding #preexistingconditions.

#Obamacare

.@FrankPallone: The problems we face with more people becoming uninsured is directly related to Trump admin sabotaging #ACA.

#Obamacare

.@Georgetown Katie Keith: Sec 1332 cannot be used to waive any and all provisions of #ACA. It cannot be used to waive community ratings, guaranteed issue, protections for people w/ #PreexistingConditions.

#Obamacare

.@FrankPallone: Most of the sabotage the Trump administration is doing is totally illegal.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@gracemarietweet: For many people retiring at 63 or 64 & need gap coverage, three months Obama admin allowed for short-term "bridge" policies was not long enough. People need to be informed consumers. But they do understand it's not permanent coverage.
#ACA #Obamacare

.@PAInsuranceDept Jessica Altman: Before the #ACA, the lack of insurance/comprehensive coverage impacted people same way today: Their inability to seek/afford care they need & potentially financially devastating debt.
#Obamacare

.@PAInsuranceDept Jessica Altman: One of the less talked about benefits of the #ACA has been reductions in Americans going into debt due to medical bills & the reductions in uncompensated care/burden to the economy.
#Obamacare

.@gracemarietweet: People are desperate for choices.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@RepAnnaEshoo wants to make it clear today's focus is on short-term "junk" plans, not association health plans after @RepShimkus brings them up w/ witness @gracemarietweet.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@USRepKCastor: I'm very concerned people are being snookered here w/ short-term plans.

#Obamacare #ACA

.@repgregwalden calls for a hearing on association health plans & "I do think we have a right to talk about them here today," rebuking what @RepAnnaEshoo said earlier when @RepShimkus brought them up.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@PAInsuranceDept Jessica Altman: There's no question that rates have gone up in individual market.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@RepSchrader: The goal of health care is to provide better health. It's not to get insurance.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@gracemarietweet argues not all short-term plans are not junk plans.
But then she warns "Buyer beware. People need to be aware & be informed."
She insists there are protections if people are going to use a subsidy for the short-term plans.
#ACA #Obamacare

.@gracemarietweet argues cutting the #ACA navigator/advertising funds was not sabotage.
"When the ACA was new, people didn't know what a deductible was, so they needed to be educated about particulars of insurance."
"We're in a different space now with the ACA"
#Obamacare

.@CongressmanRuiz: One thing I've learned as an emergency physician is not every healthy person stays healthy forever.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@Georgetown Katie Keith: Every analysis, including Trump admin's own analysis, found that expansion of short-term plans would increase premiums in the #ACA marketplaces.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@RepLarryBucshon tries to make the argument that short-term plans don't discriminate against people w/ #PreExistingConditions because it's those consumers' "choice" to buy those plans, so they are not being discriminated against.
🤨
#ACA #Obamacare

.@gracemarietweet: States are so much better able to fine-tune funding to the needs of citizens.
[and when they don't have the funds?]
#ACA #Obamacare

.@Georgetown Katie Keith: Short-term plans exacerbate many of the out-of-pocket costs that everyone at this hearing said they are concerned about.
Folks healthy enough to enroll but become sick could face catastrophic costs that should concern all of us.
#ACA #Obamacare

.@RepBuddyCarter tries to make the case in favor of short-term plans by saying health insurance that people can't use is no good.
Most of the witnesses testifying today have repeatedly noted analyses showing short-plans are highly restrictive, cover very little.
#ACA #Obamacare

.@RepRichHudson: This conversation about healthcare has become increasingly partisan b/c healthcare affects every single Americans — from the time we are born to the time we die.
#ACA #Obamacare #preexistingconditions

.@RepLBR: When you shorten the amount of time people have to apply [for #ACA plans] & slash information & outreach to people, that feels like sabotage.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck …

#Obamacare

.@SusanWBrooks: Have 1332 waivers increased access to care?
.@gracemarietweet: AK, MN, OR, MD, ME, NJ, WI have requested waivers to spend #ACA $ themselves for high risk pools/reinsurance to subsidize people w/ highest costs; insists would lower others' premiums.

.@MichaelCBurgess: Global budgets?
.@gracemarietweet: Whoever controls the money is going to control the choices.

#ACA #Obamacare

.@RepCardenas says some of his constituents believed #Obamacare ended w/ presidency of @BarackObama b/c of cuts in #ACA ad budget from $100M to $10M.
"The Trump admin is strangling healthcare for millions of people & undermining the law of the land."

.@Georgetown Keith: Since 2016 new enrollment through healthcare.gov is down by 50%.
Need younger/healthier consumers to keep premiums down.
But they aren't aware/need to better understand options.
"Advertising can pay off in bringing in younger people."
#ACA #Obamacare

.@Georgetown Katie Keith notes short-term plans very aggressive in their marketing; use robo-calls, brokers.
She says it's likely some people thought they were enrolling in #ACA plans, but really got short-term plans.
#Obamacare

.@PAInsuranceDept Jessica Altman says she's had to revoke licenses of some insurers b/c they were lying to consumers & told them short-term plans were "things they are not."
It's fallen to states to be vigilant in active marketplace where marketing questionable
#ACA #Obamacare

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
That's it for today's @EnergyCommerce hearing
So, adieu, @RepAnnaEshoo.
#healthpolicyvalentines #ACA #Obamacare #pharma

Lawmakers clash over Trump's short-term health plans, ACA marketing funds | S&P Global Market Intelligence spglobal.com/marketintellig… #ACA #Obamacare #pharma