PLAYING WITH HEALTHCARE
Do you rub elbows with millionaires and billionaires? Good for you! A tax break and tax deductions are heading your way!
Are you an insurance company executive? Wonderful! The proposed plan will allow you to get a new tax deduction on exorbitant CEO pay and bonuses (which already exceed hundreds of millions of dollars)!
Are you a woman? Can you afford to have a child ($10-13K maternity care)? Can you afford to NOT have a child ($1k birth control per year)? We all lose when birth control and maternity care are no longer essential benefits. In addition to removing these and other preventative services from health insurance plans, all Title X funding to block poor women from accessing them at free or low cost clinics will also be lost. It is not an alternative fact, in the years since the ACA started, birth control use has gone up and abortion rates have gone down!
Do you receive your healthcare from an employer provided plan? Don t be deceived. Essential benefits, mandated by the ACA, will be lost! This means a return to life-time limits; no out of pocket caps; no free preventative services, no preexisting conditions protection, and zero consumer protections. By allowing states to waive these essential benefits, and then allowing companies to cross state lines to purchase cheaper insurance, your employer provided plan will cover far less or charge you far more to get coverage you actually need. One bout of cancer can wipe out the life-time limit on your family s policy. Out of pocket caps are currently set by the ACA at $7150. for individuals and $14300. for families; can you afford more? Free colonoscopies and mammograms have saved millions of lives. A third of the population has a pre-existing condition that would make them uninsurable. Ninety-eight percent of women use or have used birth control. So while you may not lose coverage entirely, it may cost you considerably more!
Are you a family of four with less than a 50k income and gained insurance through the ACA s Medicaid expansion? You lose. You will be on your own.
Are you disabled and receive healthcare through Medicaid? You may lose. The new proposal plans to cut states funding for recipients.
Are you between 50 and 64 years old? It is estimated you will possibly pay five times or more for your premium and an unknown amount for copays, deductibles or pre-existing conditions. Estimates range from $5000. to $16000. Increases depend on age. It is also estimated that deductibles will increase $1500. on average. For this reason, many in this age group will have to go without insurance.
Are you between 19 and 29 years old? Some lawmakers want to allow you to stay on your parents policy until you are 26, but others do not. Either way, the ACA s individual mandate is gone. This means you do not have to buy any coverage at all - which might be irrelevant since your premium is likely to increase by at least $3600. plus copays and increased deductibles ($1500.). Can you afford that increase or will you just take your chances?
Is your child learning disabled or physically disabled? Your child will lose! The most recent plan will stop Medicaid funds to public schools used for children with all kinds of disabilities.
Do you have a preexisting condition? Some say they want to protect this part of the ACA, which sounds good, but without the ACA s essential benefits mandate, insurers will be allowed to simply not include your condition in their coverage and deny you or charge you more.
Do you or a family member require mental health services? You are on your own. Many mental health services, including those for addiction, are included under the ACA s essential benefits. This will no longer be mandated.
Are you angry that the ACA has cost you more? Yes, higher income earners have seen an increase in taxess, however, chances are the level of coverage you have received under the ACA is higher (all those essential benefits) than you got before the ACA and more than you will get with repeal and replace. Plus, you have helped millions of others! Thank you!
Will my employer (of more than 50 people) still have to provide healthcare coverage? NOPE! You re on your own!
Will my or a loved one s opioid addiction treatment be covered? Not likely. The Senate plan only provides a small amount of money for 2018.
Are you confused about what is the difference between the Senate and the House plans? The recently revealed Senate plan proposes even deeper cuts to Medicaid, but has a more gradual implementation than the House plan. Instead of ripping the band-aid off, it will be slowly peeled away. The Senate plan provides for some ACA subsidies to remain (through 2019), based upon income, not age, which may ease the burden on the poorest, but the House may not agree. The Senate and House must now agree on the plan.
Will high wage earners still have to pay extra taxes to support the ACA? No. This will be repealed along with the benefits from the ACA. This means insurance companies will have to raise rates or reduce benefits to make up the difference.
What will happen to my elderly relative? Besides repealing the ACA, the new plan also implements severe cuts to Medicaid. This means many elderly folks in long term care homes may be put out, unless you can pick up the tab!
Why should I care about Planned Parenthood when I am a man/beyond childbearing years? Both the Senate and the House plans will prohibit poor women from using Medicaid for healthcare or family planning at PP. Without birth control healthy women would bear a child every two years. In order for women to be economically secure and productive members of society, they must be in control of when and how many children they have. All of society benefits!