Larson talks about state of health care

WINSTED —  Congressman John Larson (D-1) spoke to an audience of more than 100 people at the Licia and Mason Beekley Community Library at a town hall-style meeting on Thursday, July 6.

The primary subject of the meeting was the continued debate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, in Congress.

One of President Donald J. Trump’s (R) campaign promises when he was running in 2016 was to replace the ACA with a new health care system.

In May, the House of Representatives passed a measure to repeal and replace the ACA.

However, the measure needs the approval of the Senate, which has not passed it.

Instead, senators have argued and debated about repealing the ACA.

“Health care isn’t being about Democrat or Republican, it’s about being American,” Larson said at the beginning of the event. “Serving people has got to be more than platitudes and conversations. It’s got to be about solutions. I hope this evening that’s what we’re going to talk about. I don’t think it’s enough to say that you are opposed to a specific plan without offering a specific solution in return so that the people you are sworn to serve understand what you stand for and what you’re going to fight for in Washington, D.C. Health care is not about a political party, one or the other. It’s about the health and well being of the American people.”

Larson said, “Congress should be coming together for a solution and not continue to bicker over the issue.”

He admitted ACA is “not a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination.”

“It needs work,” Larson said. “But it was a bill that was designed by [conservative think tank] The Heritage Foundation and put into effect in Massachusetts by [former Republican Gov.] Mitt Romney. It had a number of flaws that needed to be corrected but unfortunately, for the last seven years, we’ve heard nothing but ‘repeal’ of this bill. But the president promised not just a repeal, but a replacement with something better.”

Larson said that, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office, under the House bill 23 million would lose their insurance coverage, while under the Senate bill 22 million would lose their health insurance coverage.

“Just about every single major medical, hospital and doctors care groups have all come out opposed to this concept,” Larson said. “Primarily on its potential impact not only on the patients and the American people, but on the stability of both our hospitals, our private care providers and our insurance industry.”

Larson said that people with Medicaid would be hit hard with a loss of coverage under the current congressional proposals.

“What is to me is one of the most absurd things in American history is that the repeal of Obamacare comes on the backs of people who are on Medicaid,” he said. “It damages the system so that the very wealthiest in the country get an enormous tax break. Yes, people in the middle and lower middle class will get a tax cut, but not enough to address any problem or issue that they are going to face. It’s very clear from the outset that the strategy here, with respect to repealing health care, is to find money for a tax reform bill. To me, that’s a bad solution and that’s the case for most Americans.”

Larson said that both the House and the Senate should “come together” to pass a bill that would benefit people instead of taking away health insurance.

“We should stay in Washington for as long as it takes to do it,” Larson said. “We should work through and offer compromises. I believe that we can build upon the ACA and offer a plan that would work for all Americans.”

Repairing the ACA and not replacing it

Larson said that while there are “blemishes” in the ACA, the act should be fixed instead of totally repealed.

Larson specified a number of issues with the current ACA.

“We agree that there were a lot of businesses, including small businesses, that were hurt under [the ACA],” Larson said. “[Former President Barack Obama] said that ‘if you like your health care, you can keep it.’ But some people found out that the insurance companies said ‘no, not if it’s going to operate under these rules.’ We have to correct a number of issues.”

He said that during the original vote on the ACA in 2010, members of the House tried to push through a bill that would have brought down the qualification age for Medicare from 65 to 55.

“That only failed by two votes,” Larson said. 

Larson said Democrats are pushing a proposal that would establish a Medicare buy-in for people from ages 50 to 64.

He said that another part of the Democrats’ proposal would be a plan to make premiums more affordable and help small businesses provide affordable health care to employees.

Larson said that the Democratic plan would help to stabilize the ACA insurance marketplace by steadying premiums through cost sharing subsidies.

Audience reaction

Larson proceeded to take questions and comments from the audience, including New Hartford resident Shelley Lloyd.

“I agree that the ACA is not perfect, however, it is my expectation that new legislation that was put forth would improve health care in this country and not make it worse,” Lloyd said. “I have heard all that is publicly available about the new health care act. To be honest, what I have read is vague and borders on doubletalk. There are provisions that are unclear and a lot of hypotheticals and assumptions.”

Lloyd said that she has a young adult self-employed son who has had five different health insurance plans since 2011.

“Each successive plans have had higher premiums, higher deductibles and higher co-pays,” Lloyd said. “There are a lot ifs, but nothing really concrete proposed to keep health care costs and services the same, never mind potentially improving it.”

Lloyd asked Larson what is being done to address the issues of vagueness.

“No one knows what the Senate has for a proposal,” Larson said. “The proposal was constructed by 13 people behind closed doors. They continue to roll out concepts and meet again together, but [the proposal] still has not seen a full light of day.”

Larson said that any health care proposal should be properly vetted “where witnesses come forward and testify on the effects that this is going to have across the board.”

Denise Weeks of Glastonbury said that, while the ACA includes innovations in health care delivery and the Medicaid program.

“The piece that seems to be unsustainable is the insurance piece,” Weeks said. “What I learned from a [health care industry] individual is that in the state there is currently 100,000 people enrolled in the ACA. That is not actuary viable. If we remove all the people from 50 to 65, I can’t imagine that it’s going to be even more actuary viable. The pool will become very small. Will it be economically viable?”

While Larson did not directly address Weeks’ questions, she did address several of Weeks’ criticisms. 

“Why not go for broke and leave some room for negotiations with the Republicans?” Weeks said. “Why not go for Medicare for all? Fifty-eight percent would support a government run single payer plan.”

“I know what you are saying,” Larson said. “You are saying to go for broke. You want us to be for the ideal. Not for what you think you can achieve, but for what we would optimally like to have. That’s great. I don’t disagree with anything you said except for this: there’s 22 million people that are going to lose care. To them an ideal is great, but they need help now. We have to work towards a solution of providing for them.”