Sen. Heitkamp Interviews Health Experts on ‘The Hotdish’ to Explain How Backroom Health Overhaul Would Rip Coverage from 28,000 North Dakotans

WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The office of Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today released the latest episode of her podcast, "The Hotdish," interviewing health care experts to reinforce how drastically the Republican health care overhaul would harm North Dakota. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a health care bill in May that would rip coverage from 23 million Americans--including more than 28,000 North Dakotans--and would prevent many with pre-existing conditions from affording insurance, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

Heitkamp interviewed Dr. Mary Wakefield, former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about how the Republican bill would hurt those with pre-existing conditions and gut Medicaid, putting rural hospitals at risk and hurting children and those with disabilities. Heitkamp interviewed Georgetown University professor Sabrina Corlette, a health insurance expert, about how the administration is sowing uncertainty in insurance markets, leading insurers to pull out of some states and raise premiums for families later this year.

"Right now, a handful of senators are negotiating a backroom deal--with no plans for a public hearing--to dramatically alter our health care system. That's no way to govern, and if the proposal is anything like the bill the House passed, it would rip coverage from 28,000 North Dakotans," said Heitkamp. "To explain how Congress and the administration's actions could impact folks in North Dakota, I interviewed Dr. Mary Wakefield and Professor Sabrina Corlette about how the Republican health care bill would hurt families and threaten rural hospitals. We also covered how the administration is creating uncertainty to undermine the health insurance markets, raising premiums for families. Health coverage is often a matter of life or death--and it's long past time for Congress to put politics aside and come together to improve coverage, not take it away."

"The Hotdish" is available on iTunes and SoundCloud, as well as on Heitkamp's Senate website. Click here to subscribe to "The Hotdish" on iTunes.

About 300,000 North Dakotans have pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer, and diabetes--or even being pregnant--and the Republican health care bill would erode protections that prevent those North Dakotans from being charged more for coverage. That could make coverage unaffordable for those who need it most. Dr. Wakefield also explained how cutting Medicaid could impact the more than 90,000 North Dakota children and individuals with disabilities, seniors, and low-income families who get affordable, quality health care through the program. She also highlighted how slashing Medicaid would throw a wrench in North Dakota's response to the opioid epidemic, and would threaten the solvency of rural hospitals, putting them at risk of closure.

In her conversation about how the administration is creating uncertainty in the insurance markets, Sabrina Corlette explained how the administration has threatened to take away subsidies that help insurance companies keep premiums down and lower out-of-pocket costs for families. The uncertainty created by the administration has led insurance companies to pull out of some markets, and to propose higher premiums for families later this year.

Heitkamp has long said there are good pieces of the health reform law and parts that need to be fixed. Since 2013, she has regularly held her health care advisory board meetings comprised of health care leaders across North Dakota to talk about how to improve health care. Over the past three and a half years, she has offered many reforms to make the health reform law work better for families and businesses.

Heitkamp kicked off her podcast in February with an episode on her efforts to combat human trafficking, interviewing anti-human trafficking leader Cindy McCain and North Dakota journalist Kevin Wallevand. Her most recent episode covered Russia's attempts to interfere in the U.S. electoral process, with interviews with Independent U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) and Matthew Rojansky, a Russia Institute at the Wilson Center.

In April, Heitkamp's podcast featured fellow U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) and former North Dakota state USDA Rural Development Director Ryan Taylor for a conversation about proposed cuts to USDA and negotiations for the Farm Bill. The episode before that featured U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and former Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), discussing how moderates can get things done in an increasingly partisan Congress.