Health Care Blog

No Time For Old Political Battles

On July 1, unless Congress acts, interest rates will double for more than 7.4 million students with federal loans. Fortunately, even though they voted just weeks ago in lockstep to allow this increase, Republicans in Congress have come around on the issue since President Obama took it to the American people – claiming they’re ready to step up and stop the rate hike. Unfortunately,  rather than work together to ensure interest rates on student loans don’t double, they have decided to re-fight old political battles, proposing to eliminate the health care law’s Prevention and Public Health Fund to pay for this important reform. This proposal would put women’s health at risk. And fighting old political battles won’t protect students and young people from major rate hikes.

Eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund would have a devastating effect on women’s health and our work to prevent disease and illness. Eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund would mean:

• Hundreds of thousands of women could lose access to vital cancer screenings.   Prevention Fund resources are expected to help more than 300,000 women be screened for breast cancer in 2013 and more than 280,000 be screened for cervical cancer. 
• Programs that help to prevent congenital heart defects, prevent fetal alcohol syndrome, and promote early identification and intervention efforts for children with developmental delays and disabilities could be eliminated. 
• Tens of thousands children could lose access to immunizations.

These are just a few of the important ways the Prevention and Public Health Fund will help keep millions of Americans healthy. Keeping college affordable for America’s students should not come at the expense of putting women’s health at risk.

The Senate will soon vote on a more viable solution to keep interest rates low and provide students a fair shot at an affordable education, by closing a loophole that allows people making more than $250,000 a year to avoid paying payroll taxes. Congress should find a bipartisan solution to keep rates low without hurting Americans’ health or increasing the deficit. There’s no good reason for interest rates to double for over 7 million students. But Republicans in Congress must prove that they’re serious about setting aside the political fights of the past and actually getting this done.

Health Reform Lowers Costs for Businesses

You might have heard about a partisan report on how the health care law will affect some businesses across the country. We can’t speak to these individual anecdotes. But we know that analysts and experts have examined the law and concluded that the health care law will reduce costs for businesses. And we know we can’t afford to return to the broken health care system that was threatening businesses and families across the country and put insurance companies back in control. 

Over the past decade, health insurance costs for employers who provide insurance to their workers increased by 113 percent. Losses due to productivity and absenteeism related to health are estimated to be more than $250 billion annually. America spends more than 17 percent of GDP on health care, far more than our competitor nations. Health reform will help reduce these costs and put businesses on a stronger financial footing.

In fact, countless experts have also examined the Affordable Care Act and found it includes major reforms that will help control health care costs. A team of economists including several Nobel Prize Winners wrote: “[T]he Affordable Care Act contains essentially every cost-containment provision policy analysts have considered effective in reducing the rate of medical spending.”

Here are some key facts to keep in mind if you’re reviewing the new report. Under the Affordable Care Act:

• Businesses Will Save Money: In 2014, small businesses, on average, could save up to $350 per family policy and many may be eligible for tax credits of up to 50 percent of their premiums. And according to an analysis of the law, all businesses will see lower premiums of $2,000 per family by 2019.
• Businesses Will Continue to Offer Coverage: Independent experts from Avalere Health, The Urban Institute, The RAND Corporation, and Mercer agree that businesses will continue to provide coverage to their workers after the health care law is implemented.
• Businesses Are Already Benefitting from Health Reform: Already, the law has helped businesses make health insurance more affordable through tax credits for small businesses, resources to help pay the high cost of early retirees’ care and new rules that hold insurance companies accountable for high premium hikes. For example, the small business tax credits will benefit an estimated two million workers who get their insurance from 360,000 small employers who will receive the credit for 2011. 
• Two Years Into Implementation, Businesses are Creating Jobs: Congressional Republicans predicted that the Affordable Care Act would cause businesses to shed jobs. But in the two years since the law was enacted, the economy created 3.9 million private sector jobs. 
• Medicare Remains Strong: Contrary to predictions from House Republicans, Medicare and Medicare Advantage remain strong. Since 2010, Medicare Advantage premiums have fallen by 16 percent on average and enrollment has risen by about 17 percent since this time last year. Just this week, the Medicare Trustees report was released, showing the positive impact of the law which extended the life of the Trust Fund by 8 years.

Some Republicans want to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny your coverage or jack up your rates whenever and however they pleased without any accountability. Republicans in Congress shouldn’t try to refight the fights of the last three years. Instead, both parties need to come together to create an America built to last where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.