Don’t Resuscitate ObamaCare, Warns the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Their campaign promises to the contrary, Republicans are teaming up with Democrats on an attempt to restore the illegal cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurers that President Trump just terminated, observes the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). Obama had been paying these subsidies without benefit of a congressional appropriation, and Trump had continued them temporarily.

"The rationale is to 'stabilize' the insurance marketplace by forcing taxpayers to pay insurers to lower out-of-pocket costs for certain people, instead of repealing the law that makes insurance unaffordable," states AAPS executive director Jane M. Orient, M.D.

"The deceitfully named Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare) did not just destabilize the individual insurance market—it destroyed it by outlawing genuine, voluntary insurance."

"ACA-compliant plans," she said, "are not true insurance, but coercive prepayment schemes for a federally dictated package that might be rejected by most subscribers."

The full details of the Alexander-Murray package, proposed by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), are under development. Sweeteners to the $30 billion bailout to insurers include an expedited process for granting state waivers, and allowing individuals age 30 or older to purchase catastrophic plans (real insurance) in 2019.

"The question is why do states need federal waivers to do what is their constitutional responsibility in the first place, and where does the federal government get the authority to dictate how people choose to pay for their own medical care, based on age or anything else," Dr. Orient said.

"Patients with multi-organ failure, with no chance of recovery, get a DNR (do not resuscitate) order," Dr. Orient pointed out. "Resuscitating ObamaCare with Alexander-Murray would only prolong its dying process, but at great expense."

She suggests putting Lamar-Alexander into Sen. McCain's beloved "regular order," and defeating it.

"Instead of running a futile Code Blue on ObamaCare, we should be attending to American medicine and the American economy," Dr. Orient advised. "They are being crushed by the weight of the moribund ObamaCare monster."

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in virtually all specialties and every state. Founded in 1943, AAPS has the motto "omnia pro aegroto," which means "all for the patient."

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SOURCE Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)