LA County leaders want options in place before Obamacare repeal

Feb. 18--Hoping to protect provisions under the threatened Affordable Care Act, two Los Angeles County Supervisors will introduce a motion Tuesday that calls for financial options to be considered to continue government subsidized health care for tens of thousands of residents.

About 900,000 Los Angeles County residents enrolled into Medi-Cal through the Affordable Care Act and another 300,000 bought coverage through Covered California, the state's health insurance plan exchange.

But President Donald Trump and lawmakers want to do away with the Affordable Care Act, and local leaders and stake holders in Los Angeles County are bracing for the ripple effects in a region they say could be among the hardest hit.

Signed into law by President Obama in 2010 and known as Obamacare, the main provision under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is that all Americans must be covered under a health insurance plan or be penalized at tax time. The law also prohibits insurance companies from turning away customers for pre-existing conditions. In 2010, about 22 percent of Californians were uninsured and the state was the first to establish a health insurance plan exchange. Since then, the number of uninsured has been reduced to 7.1 percent, according to data provided by Covered California.

Trump has said his administration will repeal and replace Obamacare because it has caused premiums to skyrocket. In a news conference on Thursday, Trump said a plan to replace Obamacare would be released in early March.

LA County Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl said in their shared motion that the county has experienced financial relief from the ACA, "especially from medical assistance provided to newly Medicaid (Medi-Cal) eligible individuals whose care otherwise would be funded by the County."

Their motion also notes studies by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and UC Berkeley Labor Center that say repealing the ACA would result in the loss of 63,000 health care related jobs in Los Angeles County.

"Rolling back the ACA would endanger the health and economic well-being of millions of people, not only in Los Angeles County but across the country," Ridley-Thomas said in a statement. "We must fight efforts at every step that would endanger this landmark legislation to prevent a tsunami of hurt triggered by a repeal."

Kuehl called the repeal a serious challenge to the health of wellbeing of Los Angeles County residents.

"Should repeal or any significant diminution occur, LA needs to be at the forefront of helping to craft a way to protect those we serve because if it doesn't work for LA County, it won't work for California," she added in her statement.

If the ACA is repealed, California could lose $8 billion from its budget, health advocates have said.

The supervisors want county administrators to look at alternatives that would minimize the number of uninsured while at the same time maximize federal funding, and are asking them to "develop options of how health insurance coverage could be maintained and/or extended within the County and State given proposed Federal legislation concerning the ACA."

Ridley-Thomas and Kuehl are asking administrators to come back in 60 days with a report.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep Tony Cárdenas, D-Los Angeles, will host an Affordable Care Act Town Hall meeting from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Cesar E. Chavez Learning Academies Performing Arts Center, 1001 Arroyo St., San Fernando.

"Over the past month, I've heard from thousands of Californians about their concerns with Republicans' plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act," Cárdenas said in a statement. "This Town Hall will give folks the opportunity to ask me their questions and to get some answers."

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