If it’s put into place smoothly and with no delays or problems, the healthcare repeal bill Republicans are trying to force through the Senate would cut funding and weaken protections for tens of millions of people. And that’s the best-case scenario, because “if it’s put into place smoothly” is a helluva big if. When Massachusetts chose to pass its own healthcare law back in 2003, it took four years to get it running. Graham-Cassidy would give states about two years:
“The answer is absolutely no,” said Jon Kingsdale, who ran Massachusetts Connector, the system that matched Massachusetts residents with health insurance, and is now a public health professor and a consultant. “That’s not enough time for most states to figure it out.” [...]
“In some ways, a clean slate is much more complicated than very discrete decisions,” said Larry Levitt, an executive vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health research group. Mr. Levitt described the challenges facing states under this legislation as “formidable.”
In contrast with an earlier bill from Mr. Cassidy, which offered a default option for uncertain states, there is no backup plan in the bill. The Obamacare coverage programs would disappear everywhere in 2020, and any state unable to make a plan and submit an application would be ineligible for the new grant funding. If a state succeeds in obtaining the funding but doesn’t have a functioning new system on Jan. 1, 2020, consumers and markets would be thrown into chaos.
Even the insurance companies don’t want it:
“The bill contains provisions that would allow states to waive key consumer protections, as well as undermine safeguards for those with pre-existing medical conditions,’’ said Scott P. Serota, the president and chief executive of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “The legislation reduces funding for many states significantly and would increase uncertainty in the marketplace, making coverage more expensive and jeopardizing Americans’ choice of health plans.”
America’s Health Insurance Plans was even more pointed. The legislation could hurt patients by “further destabilizing the individual market” and could potentially allow “government-controlled single payer health care to grow,” said Marilyn B. Tavenner, the president and chief executive of the association. Without controls, some states could simply eliminate private insurance, she warned.
Another Obamacare repeal bill?! It’s time to jam the congressional phone lines again. Call your senator at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to vote NO on any repeal bill. (After you call, please tell us how it went.)
Here Republicans are trying to say that if they don’t pass Graham-Cassidy we might somehow magically end up with single-payer, and the insurance companies are saying if they do pass it it could lead to single-payer (ooh, scary, guys).
Remember how Healthcare.gov didn’t launch so smoothly given nearly four years lead time? Yeah. Now multiply that by 50 states dealing with that as just one of the many decisions they have to make and systems they have to build in just over two years. With leadership in some states that doesn’t really care if their constituents get health care anyway. And with huge funding cuts staring many states in the face. It’ll be great!