The local legislature and healthcare
Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks speaks as if she has amnesia, or perhaps she hopes the rest of us do, when she blames Democrats for Obamacare premiums increasing in most years.
Perhaps she has forgotten that Trump promised to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and to replace it with cheaper, universal care with better coverage. Instead, Congressional Republicans weakened the ACA by making coverage harder to keep and more expensive. They ended automatic re-enrollment, shortened open enrollment by over four weeks, imposed stricter income verification that delays subsidies, and eliminated repayment caps that protected low-income families from large, unexpected bills.
Subscribers to Obamacare face unusually large price increases next year if Congress does not take action this year. However, Miller-Meeks failed to note what Congress could do − vote to extend/renew the existing enhanced premium tax credit. The premium tax credits significantly increased Obamacare enrollment, especially for working people who don’t have employment-related insurance. But Miller-Meeks is very critical of that successful policy. In a familiar pattern, while Republicans criticize what is currently working, they offer nothing except vague generalities echoing the grandiose but empty promises we heard from Trump during his first campaign.
When there’s a choice of spending on health care for ordinary families versus giving new complex tax breaks accessible only to the wealthy, we know whose interests the Congressional Republicans will serve. But there’s time for them to fix this particular problem; we need to remind Republicans we are paying attention.
Sue Ravenscroft
Ames
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: The local legislature and healthcare | Letters
Reporting by Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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