Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Amid protests, Meehan defends Republican health-care proposal
In and out of U.S. House Ways and Means Committee meetings Thursdfay, U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7 of Chadds Ford, talked about improvements he sees in the American Health Care Act — while also expressing concerns he has with the Republican proposal.
As the AHCA moves through congressional chambers, Meehan said he perceives this legislation to be a dynamic, extended improvement to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
“I think people need to realize that this is a longterm process and we are going to be looking at improving health care,” he said. “If we kept the status quo today, the system would fall apart.”
Meehan said only about 8 percent of the market is affected by the Republican proposal, which he voted to approve last week.
Certain provisions such as protection for those with pre-existing conditions, coverage for children up to the age of 26 and support of Medicare remain intact, he said.
“We are not beginning the key changes until 2020,” Meehan said, adding that, for him, the major issue is, “How do we improve a system that is currently imploding?”
In certain cases like Medicaid, he said the only difference would be that in 2020, if a person left Medicaid and then returned, their coverage would change from 90 percent to 50-60 percent.
Back in the district, a few protesters stood outside his Springfield office all day as they carried signs reading, “Stop ACA Repeal” and “Charge the Poor So Much More? No AHCA!”
Nancy Boxer of Havertown was one of them.
“The fact that 24 million people are probably going to have to lose their health care is just something I can’t stomach,” she said. “The whole idea that poor people are going to end up paying more than rich people especially older people in their 50s and 60s and there’s going to be great tax savings for people who earn a lot of money but the poor people don’t have that, so for the same health care they’re going to end up effectively paying so much more. That is just against everything I stand for.”
That figure was part of an analysis released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office of the GOP health care proposal earlier this week. <eenah was critical of those findings.
“The CBO analysis includes things like 6 million people who will no longer decide to purchase health care,” Meehan said, adding that their numbers were very speculative. “The point we’re trying to fight for is to narrow the gap in which we can give the supplemental support that will get us closer to the kind of coverage people now expect.”
With concerns for increasing deductibles and shrinking markets under the ACA, where 70 percent of the United States is covered by one insurer, Meehan said the GOP plan shows cost benefits farther out. The CBO analysis found that premiums would be 15 to 20 percent higher next year and in 2019, then by 2026, average premiums would be 10 percent less than today’s costs.
“The longer term objective is to move away from this fee-for-service model,” Meehan said.
He said right now, the system is incentivized so that patients utilize the hospital. He said the intent is to move to more accountable care so that there is a payment for individuals whose care is managed, as preventive care is less expensive.
“(It’s to) create a kind of market in which providers would offer coverage for the whole individual and get a large enough market that they can shift risk,” he said, adding that savings realized through this could be placed back into the market to accommodate the 5 percent of people who utilize 55 percent of the services.
Regarding the disparity among levels of income, Meehan said he is opposing that.
“That’s a concern I have,” he said. “I’m uncomfortable with that.”
He said he is fighting for changes so the kinds of support would be increased so that those in a pre-Medicare spectrum — mostly those between 50 and 65 — would not pay a higher cost.
Meehan said he will continue to fight for quality, cost-effective health care for his constituents.
“I think this was the right thing to do so we actually have language that people can start with,” Meehan said. “The current situation isn’t sustainable. We are working very hard on this issue. This is not a oneand-done but part of a continuous process so we don’t leave people behind.”