Hearing Description:
The Health Committee recently met to question health policy experts on the first 6 weeks of the Obamacare roll-out and where the health insurance market is headed. The consensus was health premiums will be going up (on average) and Medicaid enrollment will skyrocket which will lead to even more issues.
Hearing Date: November 14, 2013
Hearing Summary: Prepared for AAPS by the Market Institute
The Energy and Commerce Committee recently held a hearing to discuss the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Chairman Joe Pitts (R-PA) said in his opening statement that millions of Americans have received cancellation notices for their health coverage. The administration is telling these people they will now receive better, more comprehensive insurance, yet health premiums are going up 40%. The program currently has serious access problems. Medicaid is facing serious problems; with more people being eligible, the program will be strained. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said in his opening statement that Republicans are only concerned with demonizing the President and sabotaging the ACA. The Upton Bill will only expand skeletal policies to people who are unaware of just how bad they are.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) said in his opening statement health premiums are skyrocketing across the nation. Regardless of the problematic website, the law was built on broken promises. Higher premiums and cancelled plans are the result of what big government health care can do. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) said in his opening statement it is one of his core missions in his life to help Americans get affordable access to healthcare. He cannot understand why Republicans oppose the law when it is built around three conservative ideas: lowering health costs, people taking individual responsibility for their health, and the private market.
The first witness, Michael Astrue, Former Commissioner at Social Security Administration testified in his opening statement the simple truth is HHS mismanaged the process of implementation. The former Administrator of CMS dropped the ball on establishing goals and specifications. When Marilyn Tavenner took the post, it was well known in the executive branch at HHS the quality of the roll-out would suffer in favor to meet the October 1st deadline. The Inspector General failed to alert the White House to the chaos at HHS and left the administration one month for Jeffrey Zients to attempt to fix the website, which is untenable. The shortcuts taken to reach the deadline, have made cyber-security defenses lax, and thus, a “hacker’s dream.”
The second witness, Avik Roy, Senior Fellow at Manhattan Institute for Policy Research testified in his opening statement he is most concerned about the ACA driving up costs for people. His organization completed a study last month of health premiums around the country and the results show that the average premium increase is 41%. Sicker and older individuals have more incentive to sign up for health coverage while younger individuals have less incentive.
The third witness, Sabrina Corlette, Research Professor at Health Policy Institute Georgetown University testified in her opening statement that Rep. Upton’s proposed bill does not fix the problem it purports to: helping people keep their current insurance plans. The individual market was described as a “basket case” and inhospitable for most people. Until the ACA was implemented, many insurers were using aggressive underwriting practices to keep high risk patients out of insurance pools.
The fourth witness, Marilyn Dixon-Hill, Registered Nurse and Clergy Person at Camden Bible Tabernacle testified in her opening statement the ACA allows her congregation to empower the community to obtain health coverage. Medicaid applicants are up, but that is a good thing. It shows the law is reaching people that would otherwise not have coverage. Access to healthcare helps communities survive.
The final witness, Roger Stark, Health Care Policy Analyst at Washington Policy Center testified in his opening statement Medicaid will add an estimated 16-23 million more patients stemming from the ACA. His state of Washington has seen an extremely weighted tendency for people to sign up for Medicaid and not private insurance. Medicaid encourages over-utilization which is leading to the program to unsustainability.
In response to questioning, Avik Roy said:
- People in employer-sponsored coverage will see increases, despite what the President says
- About 1 million people were not able to obtain insurance because of pre-existing conditions
- Rate increases will most likely be much higher than the penalties people would otherwise have to pay
In response to questioning, Michael Astrue said:
- If nothing comes out of this hearing, Representatives should at least stress to HHS how important it is for consumers to be able to shop for health insurance
In response to questioning, Sabrina Corlette said:
- Premium increases will make insurance unaffordable for some people
Hearing Website: http://energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/obamacare-implementation-problems-more-just-broken-website
Links to Testimony:
Michael J. Astrue Former Commissioner Social Security Administration
Click to access HHRG-113-IF14-Wstate-AstrueM-20131114.pdf
Avik Roy Senior Fellow Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
Click to access HHRG-113-IF14-Wstate-RoyA-20131114-U1.pdf
Roger Stark, MD Health Care Policy Analyst Washington Policy Center
Click to access HHRG-113-IF14-Wstate-StarkR-20131114.pdf
Sabrina Corlette Research Professor, Health Policy Institute Georgetown University
Click to access HHRG-113-IF14-Wstate-CorletteS-20131114.pdf
Marilyn Dixon-Hill Registered Nurse and Clergy Person, Camden Bible Tabernacle
Click to access HHRG-113-IF14-Wstate-Dixon-HillM-20131114.pdf
