(MPRN-Washington D.C.) The Affordable Care Act is shaping up to be one of the first big battles of the new congressional session. Republicans in Congress have promised to repeal it. Democrats are girded to defend it. And there’s a lot at stake for Michigan.
More than 640,000 people in Michigan have signed up for the expanded Medicaid program that’s part of the law. Another 390,000 have purchased insurance on the federal health care exchange.
Governor Rick Snyder is a Republican who is asking GOP leaders to avoid a blanket repeal of the healthcare law. Michigan hospitals and doctors say the law has led to fewer needless emergency room visits, and that’s saved a lot of money.
Freshman Republican Congressman Paul Mitchell of Michigan says the ACA has not made health care affordable for consumers. He says insurance companies have been forced to raise premiums and co-pays.
“We need to recognize that just because you have insurance does not mean you can afford healthcare,” he said.
And Mitchell says defenders of the law are using scare tactics.
“We shouldn’t write policy and try to get it passed by scaring the be-jeebers out of people,” he said. “It’s just morally wrong. It just is. Let’s stop using fear to try and pressure members of Congress.”
Mitchell says repealing and replacing Obamacare can be done in stages, and without people losing coverage. The first vote in that process could take place this week with a House vote on a budget resolution.
Republicans have still not agreed on what will replace Obamacare. But they say something needs to be done to make healthcare more affordable, and the law has not solved that problem.
But Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Flint) says Democrats may be in the minority in Congress, but that doesn’t mean they hold a losing hand in the debate.
“I think the strategy is to try to hold Republicans to what is now becoming their mantra,” he said, “and that is all those really popular elements of the ACA are going to be maintained, and try to hold them to that.”
Kildee says that includes popular provisions like allowing adult children to remain on their parents’ insurance into their 20s, and a ban on denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
“They can call it what they want,” he said, “but what they’re going to come up with in a replacement is going to look, and walk, and sound a lot like the Affordable Care Act.”
