Remind Rubio millions of lives at stake
Nothing in history compares to the catastrophe that the Republican Congress and president intend to inflict on Americans. Over more than a century, 32 nations, including all the industrialized democracies except ours, have enacted universal health insurance as a human right for their citizens. No government has ever attempted to stride backward by eliminating existing coverage for millions of people. Until now. Florida’sMarco Rubio and other Republican senators return toWashington this week under intense pressure fromMajority Leader MitchMcConnell to accept a deal — any deal— that fulfills the party’s obsession with destroying the Affordable Care Act.
There’s a new wild card at play: President DonaldTrump’s suggestion to simply repeal it and talk about replacing it later. The irresponsibility is staggering. In part, it’s meant to try to blackmail congressional Democrats into cooperating in the unmaking of their historic achievement with President Barack Obama seven years ago. McConnellwould be a fool to try it, but you never know.
His party has been bent on vengeance ever since Obama signed theACAinto law with no Republican votes. The party made headlines and bushels of right-wing money with futile votes to repeal it. Nowthere is a president who is spoiling to share the disgrace of making 22millionmore people uninsured. That’s the Congressional Budget Office estimate. TheUrban Institute puts it even higher, at 24.7 million.
Aswe’ve said before, McConnell’s cynically misnamed “Better Care” bill is about more than just doing away with what people perceive as the most controversial part of Obamacare— the provision that those who can afford it must purchase insurance or pay a tax.
First of all, it is tax relief, $700 billion of it, targeted heavily to those who least need it. Higher-income Americanswould get nearly $231 billion of that, insurance companies $144.7 billion and drug and medical equipment manufacturers $25.7 billion. The cuts even extend to a 10 percent levy on tanning beds. For the richest 1percent, there’s an annual windfall of about $40,000. Others might net enough to dine out once in a while, but not after skimpier policies, lower subsidies and higher deductibles add to their out-of-pocket health costs.
Secondly, the bill also carries out the persistent Republican vendetta against Medicare andMedicaid, the great 1965 reform that preceded Obamacare. In that less polarized day, therewere Republican votes for and Democratic votes against, but the bill passed with overwhelming majorities in both houses.
Medicaid is the health safety net for low-income and disabled people. It also helps many seniors secure beds in nursing homes. Of the 22 million people whowould become uninsured almost immediately, 15 million are onMedicaid. In the long term, the bill’s per-capitaMedicaid spending limits, deliberately set lower than the cost of inflation in health care, would likely force the states to exclude or reduce benefits to millions more, including people with mental or substance abuse problems.
McConnell’s plan also endangers every senior onMedicare and all those who expect to be.
The lost revenuewould empty theMedicare PartAtrust fund by 2026, two years sooner than anticipated, forcing the showdownbetween severe benefit cuts or higher taxes that Obama sought to postpone.
More people enteringMedicarewould be suffering fromcostly, chronic, untreated illnesses because the bill is harshest on those between 50 and 64. It allows insurance companies to charge older people up to five times more than younger ones in the individual and small-group markets. Plus, fewerwould qualify for Obamacare subsidies, and therewould be increased deductibles, higher cost-sharing and skimpier coverage.
Under Obamacare, the average unsubsidized annual premium for a 64-year-old on the popular Silver Plan is $15,300. Under McConnell’s plan, itwould cost $20,500. The narrower Bronze Plan costs $12,700. It would rise to $16,000, and cover less.
According to the CBO, some1.4million of these older Americanswould become uninsured by 2026, many because of unaffordability.
Florida’s Democratic senator, BillNelson, is fighting this atrocity. Rubio is a worry. Although the telegenic junior senator can talk a good game, he has been putty under pressure fromMcConnell and Trump. Here are some Florida facts it would behoove him to consider before joining in their dirtywork.
1.5 million more Floridianswould become uninsured, nearly one adult in four under the age of 65, according to theUrban Institute. That’s a 62 percent increase to 3.9 million altogether.
Floridawould lose $8.2 billion in federal funds by 2022, an enormous blowto the economy.
Some 450,000 Floridians between 50 and 64 are insured in the Obamacare Marketplace, where theywould face higher cost-sharing and deductibles.
Medicaid protects 1.8 million Florida children – 57 percent of those in rural areas and 44 percent in urban centers. That’s an increase of more than 522,000 since Obamacarewas passed, even without Florida’s participation in theMedicaid expansion program. Much of that occurred in Broward County, where children’s enrollment increased from131,510 to 179,750. The harsh spending caps inMcConnell’s billwould erase much of that progress.
More than 350,000 Floridians receive behavioral health care, including treatment for substance abuse, underMedicaid. Because mental health for adults isn’t a benefit mandated by Congress— unlike nursing home coverage— itwould likely be one of the first items Florida’s notoriously stingy Legislaturewould cut.
Rubiowas nowhere to be seen during the July 4 recess, a time when members of Congress normally shake as many hands as they can find. Most otherRepublicans laid low. Only three said theywould be in parades. Only three planned townhalls, fewer than those senators whowent to Afghanistan.
They can hide, but they can’t escape the telephone calls, emails and faxes that have been coming and should keep coming to them. Rubio needs to knowthat the bill is too flawed, in dozens ofways, to be patched up byMcConnell’s stealthy wheeling and dealing. The bill needs to be withdrawn or defeated. Then, perhaps, a decent effort to improve Obamacare might ensue.
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator and consummate cynic, was reputed to have said that “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” He didn’t mind the statistics. It doesn’t look as ifMcConnell does, either.
For whatMedicaid means to one person, one among many, there is the MiamiHerald’s touching account lastweek ofHaylee Kalick, 21, who lives with her father and grandparents inWeston. She suffers froma number of conditions, includingTourette Syndrome, bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, so severe that she had been hospitalized nearly 20 times and tried to take her life. But thatwas before she signed up forMedicaid in 2015. It provides the five prescription drugs, counseling and psychiatric therapy that are keeping her out of hospital and on the road to a productive life.
“I can leave the house nowand do something,” she said.
Sen. Rubio must knowthat millions of people owe their health— and even their lives— to the programs thatMcConnell andTrump are hell bent to destroy.
Here’s howto remind him: HisWashington telephone number is 202-224-3041. At his Palm Beach office, the number is 561-775-3360.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, AndrewAbramson, Elana Simms, Gary Stein and Editor-in-ChiefHoward Saltz.