USA TODAY International Edition
GOPCARE FAILS KIMMEL TEST. AGAIN.
As America moves toward health care consensus, some Republicans are outliers
Every so often, a “national moment” takes us out of our day- to- day and shapes our national thinking. The Exxon Valdez oil spill helped forge opinion about environmental responsibility. Terri Schiavo’s life- support case made the public contemplate a dignified death. Someday we may see how a national moment helped us articulate a new health care consensus when late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel told the story of the birth of his son.
Billy was born with a serious heart condition that required emergency surgery. There were many important parts to Kimmel’s tale — from the nurse who first noticed a problem to the heroic doctors and clinicians who conducted open heart surgery that saved the infant’s life.
But what made the Kimmel moment resonate was the juxtaposition of our hopes and needs as parents in the health care system with the stark reality of the House Republicans’ American Health Care Act. Three weeks after it passed, the non- partisan Congressional Budget Office finally evaluated its impact, and the results were stunning: Similar to an earlier report, 23 million fewer people would be insured a decade from now.
RIGHT TO CARE
In addition, coverage would be unavailable or prohibitively expensive in large parts of the country for services such as mental health, substance abuse, maternity and pediatric dental care. Outof- pocket costs would increase, too, with the return of the lifetime caps that were outlawed under the Affordable Care Act.
Kimmel’s experience forces the question boiling just below the surface — whether Americans have a basic right to health care, or whether that right is reserved for those who can afford it. As Kimmel put it, “No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life.”
The ACA took a big step toward guaranteeing that people wouldn’t need to choose between getting care and losing their home. Since it became law in 2010, it has helped reduce personal bankruptcy filings by half. At the core of the debate is whether we want to build on that progress or surrender the health and financial security millions of Americans have gained.
If the AHCA becomes law, people like Billy with pre- existing conditions would lose protection against being charged more for insurance. The prohibition against lifetime caps and the requirement that insurers cover a package of basic essential benefits would also disappear. Like many parents, Kimmel shudders at the thought of his son growing up without access to care.
To be sure, there are voices arguing against the right to health coverage. Rep. Raul Labrador, RIdaho, recently said, “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.” Newt Gingrich ridiculed Kimmel because, in his view, the emergency room is required to treat kids like Billy. Some politicians who have always had insurance may believe that people without it will all receive care, but they are misinformed.
THE MISS USA TEST
Emergency rooms are required to treat life- threatening cases, but they don’t have to provide the many other services and treatments people need. In every community, Medicaid handles the needs of children, the disabled, low- income people and seniors in nursing homes. The House bill awaiting Senate action would cut Medicaid by more than $ 800 billion, or 25%, to pay for large tax cuts for the wealthy over 10 years.
Kimmel’s experience crystallized the national debate for at least one Republican senator. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor, told CNN he won’t support a bill that doesn’t pass “the Jimmy Kimmel test.” Appearing on Kimmel’s show, Cassidy and Kimmel agreed on that test: “No family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can’t afford it.”
Given our divisions, it’s often hard to imagine reaching a consensus on anything. Yet polls show Americans increasingly aligned with the Kimmel test, in favor of universal and affordable coverage ensured by the government. In one sign of the times, after Miss USA — Kara McCullough — called health care a privilege, there was such backlash that she soon softened her words. “I said it, and I’m going to own it. It is a privilege to have health care,” she said, then added: “Do I believe it’s a human right? Of course I do.”
How quickly this consensus translates from ordinary Americans to their representatives is now the question. Congress is under pressure to create a “win” for President Trump, but senators like Cassidy understand they are all that stands in the way of millions losing their access to care. His colleagues must speak up now and say they will never vote to allow this to happen.