Wyden Statement on Senate Floor on Seema Verma Nomination and Trumpcare
Today the
If Trumpcare passes, under section 132 of the bill, she'd be able to give states a green light to shunt sick patients into high-risk pools that have failed historically at offering good coverage that anybody can afford. Under section 134 of that bill, she'd be in charge of deciding exactly how skimpy Trumpcare plans will be and how much more Americans will be forced to pay out of pocket for the care they need. Under section 135 of the bill, she'd pave the way for health insurers to make coverage more expensive for people approaching retirement age.
Given all that, I want to start this debate with Trumpcare. The odds were against
For seven years, my colleagues on the other side have pointed to the Affordable Care Act as the source of just about every ill in our health care system. The Republican slogan was to repeal and replace, and they rode that wave through four elections to great success. The only problem was, the replacement plan was nowhere in sight.
But now the curtain has been lifted, the lights are shining on Trumpcare, and there aren't a lot of people enjoying the show.
Trumpcare really comes down to going back to the days when healthcare in America worked only for the healthy and the wealthy.
There are almost too many problems with this proposal to talk about in one shot, but with a lot of debate ahead, I want to walk through some key points this afternoon and how they relate to the role
First let's set aside the health care aspect for a moment and address what would happen strictly in terms of dollars and cents.
This proposal, in my view, is
Nothing illustrates this issue more clearly than the fact that the Republican proposal gets rid of the ACA's
Every time an American earns even
The Trumpcare bill does a 180, so the only people who are getting a tax reduction are the fortunate few who need another tax break least. And it cuts three years off the life of the
Let's be clear, this bill breaks a clear Trump promise not to harm
The promise not to cut
So while the most fortunate get a tax break, the runway gets shorter for
Those individuals are going to take a gut-punch under this bill, too, in the form of higher costs.
In parts of my home state - particularly out in rural areas like Grant County, Union County and
A big part of this is because a major part of Trumpcare is built on an age tax.
Bottom line, older Americans are going to pay a lot more under Trumpcare - if they're able to afford insurance at all. The fact is that a lot of those older people are struggling to get by, particularly people out in those rural areas I mentioned a minute ago.
Instead of this Trumpcare bill that raises their costs by thousands of dollars, seniors need to see their costs go down. Because in America, it's expensive to get older.
And that brings me to the
Today, the
Trumpcare would end that guarantee. You could have state programs forced into slashing nursing home budgets. You could see nursing homes shut down and seniors' lives uprooted. You could have Grandma and Grandpa getting nickeled and dimed for the basics in home care that they rely on.
When it comes to
It puts an expiration date on the
And Trumpcare is going to cap
If low-income Americans lose their coverage through
Then there's the effect of this bill on opioid abuse. By slashing
Just about every big health care organization out there is telling the
Eight years ago, the
It's also fortunate that the public will get a look at this information in the days ahead, given how few specifics they got from
Members on the other side are making the case that their Trumpcare bill is the first step in a three step process when it comes to health care. Part two will be squarely in the jurisdiction of the next CMS administrator - it's supposedly all about using regulations to undermine the Affordable Care Act's protections and guarantees.
So Ms. Verma was asked a lot of questions about how she would oversee these vital programs and how she'd use the power that comes along with being CMS administrator.
For example, I asked about what
I raised these issues because it's clear that
What the committee got in response was a lot of happy-talk that didn't amount to much substance at all. I will oppose
Read this original document at: https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-statement-on-senate-floor-on-seema-verma-nomination-and-trumpcare
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