DeLauro predicts proposed health care changes will be a ‘monumental disaster’ for many Americans

New Haven Register (CT)

March 14--NEW HAVEN -- U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro's fears were confirmed Monday when the Congressional Budget Office estimated that an additional 14 million Americans will lack health insurance next year under a proposed Republican healthcare plan, with those numbers increasing to 24 million within a decade.

The CBO said the trade off would be a reduction of $337 billion in the federal debt over the same time period.

Also on Monday, Connecticut estimated that more than 34,000 consumers here will not renew healthcare coverage in 2018 because of the proposed American Health Care Act, the name Republican lawmakers have given their proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obamacare.

DeLauro said over a decade there could be a shift in expenses of $370 billion from the federal government to the states based on cuts in subsidies and a change in Medicaid from an entitlement program for those who qualify, to a discretionary program with capped federal funding.

"What you will have, subsequent to that, is rationing, DeLauro said. "If the states have to begin to pick up the cost, you then begin to look at who you can jettison in order to be able to pay for services. States are not going to be able to deal with the costs."

Connecticut's Office of Budget and Management estimated that the proposed changes would add $6.8 million to its budget for healthcare costs next year, if federal funds for Planned Parenthood are cut.

The state would also be asked to make up an additional $4.5 million in fiscal 2019 with the repeal of the Prevention and Public Health Fund and anywhere between $89 million to $539 million in 2020, according to OPM.

"It's a monumental disaster for the American public," DeLauro said of the proposed healthcare changes.

The subsidies will be based on age, rather than income, which will increase costs for seniors and those with low incomes. In Connecticut, the average person would receive an estimated $2,115 less in assistance, while those over 60 would receive an average of $5,000 less.

The 3rd District congresswoman, who represents Greater New Haven in Congress, said Obamacare needs changes to decrease premiums and deductibles and reasonable people should be able to agree on ways to make it better, rather than throwing it out.

She said the biggest beneficiaries will be the wealthy when the $465 billion in taxes levied to pay for the subsidies and to expand Medicaid are repealed.

The Washington Post reported that the CBO report marks the beginning of a new phase in the debate over the week-old health-care bill, which is moving through the House on an accelerated timetable despite opposition from Republicans, Democrats and virtually every sector of the U.S. health-care industry. Conservative Republicans, in particular, have demanded changes to the measure in exchange for their support.

The White House has spent the last week engaged in a charm offensive aimed at bringing those conservatives on board, as well as an effort to discredit the CBO before it released numbers that might cast the plan in a negative light, the Post reported.

"If you're looking to the CBO for accuracy, you're looking in the wrong place," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said last week, the Post reported.

As concerned as she was with healthcare changes, DeLauro felt the biggest threat to American democracy is the interference by the Russians in the U.S. election process.

"This to me is more than troubling," DeLauro said in an editorial board meeting with the New Haven Register.

She favors an independent commission or a special prosecutor to thoroughly investigate the issue and take it out of the hands of politicians.

"There is no guarantee it won't happen again," she said. "That's dangerous and we need to regard it as dangerous."

She said civic organizations have to speak up and she praised the Republican leaders who have called for an independent probe.

She said American democracy "is essential to a world order in my view."

DeLauro, several times, said she wasn't challenging the outcome of the 2016 election and would not endorse those who are working to nullify the election of Donard Trump as president.

"We had an election. We are a nation of laws," DeLauro said.

The congresswoman said foreign ministers in Europe are afraid of interference by the Russians in their elections. She said the U.S. demanded that its allies join them in imposing strong sanctions against Russia because of its actions in Ukraine.

"Where is our word? Who will trust us,?" DeLauro asked if we now soften those sanctions.

DeLauro said the budget has always been a balancing act between providing the right level of defense and funds for all other programs, from food safety to healthcare to Pell grants, special education and Title I funds for education.

Increasing defense by $54 billion will decimate the discretionary social service side of the budget, she said.

DeLauro was also upset at the denigration of the press.

"We have free speech. That's why people come here," DeLauro said.

"There has to be an outcry. We cannot overlook it. None of us can overlook it," she said of labeling news as "fake" if it is critical of the administration.

DeLauro said she has been in office for 26 years and "I have not seen anything like this," referring to questions of conflicts of interest by Cabinet members.

She was particularly upset by the latest news that Michael Flynn, who left as national security adviser, had a $500,000 contract with the Turkish government as he worked on the Trump campaign.

"It's mind-boggling," DeLauro said.

The Washington Post contributed to this story.

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