Republicans’ assault on choice
Of all the insidious elements of the House Republican health care plan — and the list is long indeed — one takes particular aim at California and New York. It would deny federal tax credits to help modest-income individuals buy health insurance in any state that requires insurers to cover elective abortions.
Exactly two states fit into that category: California and New York.
“It holds these states hostage by denying tax credits to both states unless they change those requirements,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, DCalif., said in a statement. “I will do all I can to defeat this punitive bill in the Senate.”
Here’s what it means for working Californians whose employers don’t provide a health-plan benefit: More than 1 million of them purchase insurance through Covered California. Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, also known as Obamacare, those who earn up to 400 percent of the poverty level ($47,000 a year for a single person) qualify for a government subsidy. Those subsidies vary according to age and income level; low-income Californians in their early 60s could qualify for more than $9,000 a year.
Under the House-passed Republican plan, tax credits would range from $2,000 to a maximum of $4,000 for individuals 60 and older — a huge hit to people in their 50s and 60s who do not yet qualify for Medicare. And here’s the double kicker: The GOP’s American Health Care Act drops the mandate for larger employers to provide health insurance. The pool of Americans seeking coverage on the individual market may increase if the plan becomes law — and more may choose to forgo coverage altogether if it becomes too pricey, in the absence of Obamacare’s individual mandate, which requires most Americans to have health insurance.
Then again, even those trimmeddown tax credits would be unavailable to Californians unless the state were to drop its insistence that insurers cover abortions — a move that would be anathema to elected officials who have spent their careers committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose.
Assemblyman David Chiu, DSan Francisco, called the provision “the most egregious example of what can happen” if the Republican plan advances to President Trump’s desk.
“It would wipe out our ability to fund the full spectrum of reproductive choices,” Chiu told The Chronicle’s editorial board Friday. “It would be devastating.”
This should have been a poison pill for any California representative considering the welfare of his or her constituents. But all 14 Republican House members from the state voted for the Trump-backed plan, which passed 217 to 213. Each should be held to account for a approving a bill that would put their state in the untenable position of either curtailing abortion rights or depriving lower-income families of even the meager tax credits offered under the Republican plan.
There are myriad other objectionable parts of the bill, which was rushed through the House without even a minimal vetting through public hearings. It’s slashing of Medicaid funding would severely impair the ability of states to assure health care to the poor, disabled and elderly. It allows states to eliminate a requirement that insurers cover basic services such as maternity care and cancer treatment. It eviscerates protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
The Senate must stop this shameful scheme.
“This bill punishes California and New York, the two states that require comprehensive reproductive health care coverage.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.