Capito: Senate heath bill ‘not the right fix’

June 29--FAIRMONT -- After coming out against the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va., expressed her concerns Wednesday in a press conference call.

Capito said she has looked for options to improve the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but said the new Senate bill would not make West Virginians' situation better, and in some cases, would make it worse.

"The Senate bill was just not the right fix for West Virginians," she said. "This is why I made my statement yesterday. I don't think it's good for West Virginia. I've heard from West Virginians. I can see for myself what it does."

Four areas in the legislation Capito highlighted during the press call concerned lack of affordability, lack of funding to combat the opioid epidemic, lack of rural health-care providers and steep cuts to Medicaid.

She said she would work to improve it before the vote, which was recently delayed until after the July 4 recess by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

"Any subsidies or exchanges in the lower income brackets, particularly looking at older, more rural people who have to buy on the individual market, (to make sure) it's affordable for them," she said of the changes she will seek in the legislation.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), enacting the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 would reduce federal deficits by $321 billion over 10 years while increasing the number of people who are uninsured by 22 million compared to the current law. In 2018, it predicts 15 million more people would be uninsured.

"Premiums are just skyrocketing," Capito said. "So the working people that might be a small business owner, for them to go out onto the exchange and buy insurance, it has become excruciatingly expensive. We have to remember our premiums in West Virginia under 'Obamacare' (ACA) have gone up 169 percent."

The CBO includes that the bill provides $2 billion in 2018 for grants to support treatment and recovery for people with substance-abuse disorders or mental-health problems. Capito said she is asking for $4 billion to $5 billion extra to pay for services and treatment for areas most affected by the opioid epidemic.

According to the CBO, under this legislation it is predicted that no more states will expand Medicaid eligibility. As well, it predicts that states that have expanded it will no longer offer that coverage.

"(I've heard) personal stories of how expanded Medicaid had helped their loved one or their family be able to afford access to care, in some instances, very critical care," she said.

However, she said the transition from Medicaid to private health insurance is a key point of the bill.

"It's still not there. I think that's one of the areas we're working to move it toward," she said.

She also answered a question regarding care for the elderly, saying those below the Medicare age (50-65) need to have affordable options, which they did not have in the Senate bill.

"For those over that Medicare age, Medicaid is the primary payer of about 70 percent of our nursing homes for our elderly. ... This goes to that growth rate issue about whether nursing home and long-term care for elderly is adequately addressed. It's inadequately addressed in this bill. We're pushing hard to make sure that gets fixed."

Capito stated that she agrees with provisons in this legislation to eliminate the tax penalty for not having insurance.

"Health care is a very personal thing, and people have very deep feelings about it. One of the difficult things with any kind of change to health care is sort of the fear of the unknown," she said. "I think that kind of uncertainty really weighs on people and makes them feel negative about any kind of change, and that's understandable."

Email Leah Nestor at lnestor@timeswv.com.

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