Local protesters fear an Obamacare replacement

April 29--JEFFERSONVILLE -- Protesters concerned about a more conservative Affordable Care Act replacement plan gathered at the edge of East 10th Street Friday afternoon to voice their frustrations.

"They keep trying to move this to the right," said Rob Klaus, one of the approximately 20 sign-holding activists. Their protest, billed as an attempt to save the Affordable Care Act, was organized by SoINdivisible, a local chapter of a national President Donald Trump resistance group.

The new replacement plan was brought forward this week in an attempt to pass one before the end of Trump's first 100 days in office. A vote failed to transpire Friday, perhaps because of a lack of support from enough House Republicans.

The proposal would have been similar to the last plan, but would have allowed states to let insurers opt out of two previously maintained Affordable Care Act provisions. One was a requirement for insurance companies to cover "essential health benefits," such as substance use disorder services and maternity and newborn care. The other was a restriction on insurers charging higher premiums based on the health status of their customers.

Some Republicans say the add-ons would lower insurance costs for some people. That doesn't assuage Klaus.

"It's really exposing a lot of vulnerable people, which I think is terrible," he said.

Klaus' daughter has a food allergy, which a health insurer could charge him more for.

"She didn't get that through any lifestyle choices that she made," Klaus said. "She had it when she was a year and a half old. And so I don't want her to face a future where she could be subjected to these kinds of expenses."

The solution for most of Friday's protesters, including Anna Wisebach, was to keep the Affordable Care Act.

"I don't think we ought to throw it out," she said. "I think we've got to keep what we've got because it's established. It's working for a large group of people."

That wasn't always reflected in the numbers. The cost of premiums for midlevel plans rose by 22 percent under the Affordable Care Act from 2016 to 2017, although many Obamacare customers received subsidies to offset those costs.

The last health care replacement that House Republicans proposed would have raised premiums for individuals even higher at first, but the premiums would have decreased beyond Barack Obama levels by 2026, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.

The same report estimated that 24 million fewer people would have had health insurance by 2026, however.

The proposal would also have cut the federal budget deficit by $337 billion.

Friday's protesters hoped to send a message to passerby that there is still time to contact their representatives to tell them how they feel about the Affordable Care Act and the prospect of replacing it.

For voters in Clark and Floyd counties, that representative would be Trey Hollingsworth.

Hollingsworth has not publicly stated whether he would vote for the most recent health care replacement plan.

Rob Burgess, Hollingsworth's director of communications, said the Republican congressman is still studying it.

Hollingsworth has said that he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and return to free-market health care.

"Ultimately what I want to see is companies competing to earn your business," Hollingsworth said at a February event attended by the News and Tribune. "Companies competing to sell you products, not you forced to give companies dollars."

Hollingsworth also opposes a loophole that would exempt members of Congress and their staff from aspects of a future Obamacare replacement plan. He's co-sponsoring a bill that would ensure that.

"Constituents should never feel that the very people chosen to represent them are voting to give themselves privileged status," Hollingsworth said in a statement.

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