As efforts to sabotage health care continue, Donnelly continues pressing for Administration to ‘do no harm’ and remains involved in bipartisan Senate negotiations to stabilizing markets
In Donnelly's latest letter to Verma, he wrote, in part, "Since my last letter, the Administration has taken additional measures to undermine the individual market by significantly cutting outreach and enrollment efforts, which may lead to lower enrollment, a sicker risk pool, and ultimately higher premiums for consumers. All these actions lead to a troubling pattern of purposeful weakening of the law, which only hurts the American public. I find these developments to be especially disturbing in light of our past conversations in which you expressed your desire to ensure more Americans have access to affordable health care and your commitment to work with me and individual states to strengthen our health care system.
"...The Administration has the ability to help provide market stability today, and I respectfully request that the Administration make a strong public commitment to continuing CSR payments, promoting and facilitating open enrollment, and working with
Donnelly's letter comes after repeated efforts by the Administration to undermine the health care system, which have resulted in premiums rising by an average of 20 percent for Hoosiers on the individual health care marketplace. In particular, several insurance companies that offer coverage to Hoosiers, including two that left the market, cited uncertainty as it relates to the Administration's refusal to commit to making CSR payments, as a key reason for increasing prices or leaving the market. CareSource, for example, told Donnelly several months ago in a letter, "If there was certainty that CSR payments would be made, we estimate that there would be a 2.2% rate increase, in aggregate, from our 2017 to 2018 rates."
Over the past several months, Donnelly has participated in bipartisan negotiations and listening sessions with health care experts, led by
Full text of the letter is here https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/download/101117-letter-to-seema-verma and below.
The Honorable
Administrator
Dear Administrator Verma,
I am writing to follow up on a letter I sent you on
At that time, I was specifically concerned about the Administration's refusal to commit to making cost sharing reduction (CSR) payments, which help reduce copays and deductibles. As you know, on
Since my last letter, the Administration has taken additional measures to undermine the individual market by significantly cutting outreach and enrollment efforts, which may lead to lower enrollment, a sicker risk pool, and ultimately higher premiums for consumers. The Administration's deep cut to the navigator program means the state of
The Administration has also announced that it will shut down the healthcare.gov website for 12 hours every Sunday except one during the upcoming open enrollment period.[4] Because many individuals use the weekend to compare plans and purchase insurance for the upcoming year, this decision could further impact enrollment numbers. The Administration said the closures will be for regular maintenance, but closures for maintenance in previous years were much shorter and less frequent.
All these actions lead to a troubling pattern of purposeful weakening of the law, which only hurts the American public. I find these developments to be especially disturbing in light of our past conversations in which you expressed your desire to ensure more Americans have access to affordable health care and your commitment to work with me and individual states to strengthen our health care system.
As I stated before, as we work to improve our health care system, we must first do no harm. The Administration has the ability to help provide market stability today, and I respectfully request that the Administration make a strong public commitment to continuing CSR payments, promoting and facilitating open enrollment, and working with
Sincerely,
Read this original document at: https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-reiterates-call-for-administration-to-provide-market-stability-and-work-on-bipartisan-solutions-to-strengthen-health-care-system
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