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Updated 27 minutes ago
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey criticized Congressional Republicans on Thursday for what he called their “hot air” on health care reform, saying it is disingenuous to call for the Affordable Care Act's repeal while promising to preserve the parts of the law favored by voters.
In addition to insuring 20 million Americans through the health law's individual insurance marketplace and expanded Medicaid programs, the health law strengthens the employer-sponsored plans that the majority of people have, Casey said on a conference call with reporters.
The 2010 health care law, often called Obamacare, forbids insurers from denying insurance or hiking premiums based on preexisting conditions. It also added protections for women and eliminated lifetime coverage caps, he noted.
“You can't just assert you're going to keep the protections without telling the American people in great detail how you're going to keep those protections in place,” he said.
Preserving the parts people like will cost money, he said, but Republicans have not expressed support for the law's taxes or the requirement that most people buy health insurance.
Republicans in Congress have pushed for repeal since the health law was passed. Some promoted a quick repeal following the election of Republican President Donald Trump and have begun the process of repealing the law, but the effort has stalled. The Republicans so far have not put forward a plan for replacing the law.
Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey's office on Thursday provided a prepared statement criticizing the costs of insurance in the individual market in Pennsylvania and other states. Monthly premiums have increased each year since the market launched in 2014, and deductibles on many of the plans are high — reaching up to $6,000.
The high costs have caused some insurers to leave the market, including Aetna and UnitedHealthcare leaving Pennsylvania's market.
“Obamacare rests upon a flawed premise: that government must be in control of your health care,” Toomey said in the statement. “To help the limited number of individuals with the costliest preexisting conditions, Obamacare upended the entire system for everyone. This big government approach to health insurance didn't work.”
Experts have analyzed the potential impacts of repealing the law without replacing it, based on a legislative proposal that President Barack Obama vetoed after Congress passed it in 2016. Casey cited some local numbers based on an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based policy group the Urban Institute.
The study found that about 956,000 more Pennsylvanians would be uninsured in 2019 if the law were repealed and not replaced. By 2028, the state would lose $13.3 billion in federal subsidies and tax credits that help people pay monthly premiums and lower some treatment costs, according to the analysis.
In Allegheny County, an additional 89,000 people would be uninsured in 2019 with repeal, according to the analysis. An additional 22,000 would be uninsured in Westmoreland County, the analysis states.
Casey acknowledged the problem of rising premiums in the individual insurance market, saying he wants to sit down with Republicans and talk about potential solutions. He said he supports repealing a tax on medical devices in the ACA.
“The Affordable Care Act is by no means perfect, but the answer isn't to scrap it,” he said. “It's to fix it.”
Wes Venteicher is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-380-5676 or wventeicher@tribweb.com.
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