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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2017.05.10 - 22917MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION# 1 7130 BY: Commissioner David Woodward, District #19 IN RE: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – OPPOSITION TO REPUBLICAN-LED EFFORT TO REPEAL OBAMACARE AND REPLACE IT WITH THE AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT (AHCA) 1/3/4114-c-1 it 6 To the Oakland County Board of Commissioners ckz, g ,v‘t.-- 2 74e f .xt13 Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen: WHEREAS the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law in 2010; and WHEREAS President Donald Trump is leading efforts to repeal Obamacare with the passage of the Republican-led American Health Care Act (AHCA), that narrowly passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 4, 2017; and WHEREAS the Congressional Budget Office (CB0) reported in their March 2016 baseline projections that there were approximately 23 million people with health care insurance as a result of the ACA, with 12 million people covered by the exchanges (10 million of whom received subsidies to help pay for insurance) and 11 million receiving health care through Medicaid expansion; and WHEREAS the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation analyses of Michigan Health and Human Services Marketplace Plan Selection Data and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Green Book Data state the total enrollment of Oakland County residents due to the ACA, as of August 2015, was equal to 186,251 or 15% of the County's population; and WHEREAS a full repeal of the ACA would cost the federal government $350 billion over the next decade, according to a new analysis from the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; and WHEREAS based upon the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) an estimated 27% of adult Americans under the age of 65 have health conditions that would likely leave them uninsurable if they applied for individual market coverage under pre-ACA underwriting practices that existed in nearly all states; and WHEREAS a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that most people (53%) reported that they or someone in their household has a pre-existing condition, in Michigan the estimated percent of non-elderly people with declinable pre-existing conditions under Pre-ACA practices was 28% or 1,687,000 Michiganders; and WHEREAS two professors of public health at the City University of New York's Hunter College, Dr. David Himmelstein and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, both lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School, citing data from the New England Journal of Medicine, agree that even with conservative estimates repealing Obamacare will result in 43,956 deaths every year; and WHEREAS based upon George Washington University analysis, a repeal to key parts of the ACA would lead to major cuts in federal assistance for health care, thereby triggering major losses in employment and serious economic dislocations in all states; and WHEREAS these consequences could extend well beyond the health care industry, triggering major reductions in employment and substantial losses in state economic activity and reduced state and local revenues; and WHEREAS medical groups oppose the ARCA including the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Hospital Association, and the American Public Health Association; and WHEREAS patient groups oppose AHCA including the American Cancer Society, the Cancer Action Network, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, JDRF, March of Dimes, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the National MS Society; and WHEREAS a majority of Americans oppose the GOP health care bill and this current effort of the AHCA to repeal Obamacare; and WHEREAS a top Medicaid official came out against the AHCA, when Andrey Ostrovsky, chief medical officer for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, wrote on Twitter "Despite political messaging from others at HHS, I align with the experts from [American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association] in opposition to AHCA"; and WHEREAS AARP has outlined how the AHCA is hazardous to the health of Americans, especially older American in the following ways: 1 Impose an age tax. Insurers could charge older adults five times what younger consumers pay for health insurance — up from three times what younger people pay, under the current law. At the same time, the bill would reduce tax credits that help older adults afford their coverage. The age tax could increase annual premiums by $13,000, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Making matters worse, states could receive a federal waiver that would allow insurers to charge even more than five times what younger people pay. 2 Allow insurers to charge higher premiums to consumers with preexisting conditions, potentially to levels that people cannot afford. Some 25 million people ages 50 to 64 have a preexisting condition, such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease. They are protected under current law from paying more for insurance than those without such conditions. 3 Permit states to rely upon high-risk pools with sky-high premiums to cover people with preexisting conditions. That tab could reach $25,700 a year in 2019, according to AARP's Public Policy Institute. What's more, high-risk pools are not a viable solution. When they were used before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, they put such a financial burden on states that benefits were limited, and enrollment in them was capped. 4 Jeopardize essential health benefits. States could receive waivers allowing insurers to eliminate coverage for critical benefits. Among the benefits states could opt out of: emergency services, hospitalization, prescription drug coverage, mental health services, chronic disease management and preventive care. 5 Undermine Medicare's financial health. By reducing Medicare's revenue, the bill would hasten the program's insolvency by as much as four years and weakens its ability to pay for future services. 6 Do nothing to address the high cost of prescription drugs. Consumers with chronic illnesses have seen the price of their medications more than double since 2006, and this legislation would do nothing to help lower costs. At the same time, it would hand a $200 billion windfall in tax breaks to special interests like drug makers and insurance companies. 7 Cut Medicaid funding by $880 billion over 10 years. More than 17 million low-income seniors, children and adults with disabilities rely on Medicaid. Millions of low-income seniors and people of all ages with disabilities risk losing access to critical long-term services and supports. 8 Leave millions of Americans without health insurance. Under this legislation, as many as 24 million people would lose their health care coverage within a decade, according to the CBO; and WHEREAS Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said the Republican-led health care plan will adversely impact" Michigan's most vulnerable citizens and may lead to significant cost increases for seniors; and WHEREAS the Ann Arbor-based Center for Healthcare Transformation and Research compared the effects of the Republican-led AHCA and current law and concluded the impact on Michigan would be: • 100,000 people age 55-64 who selected coverage through Michigan's Health Insurance Marketplace would face higher costs compared to the tax credits they would receive under AHCA. • 233,000 people with household incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level ($29,700 for an individual in 2016) would face higher costs over time with potentially lower tax credits and/or when cost-sharing reduction subsidies are repealed in 2020. • 533,000 people who had individual coverage would be at risk of facing a 30 percent surcharge with a gap in coverage of more than 63 days. • Among the 649,000 Healthy Michigan Plan members, those with a gap in coverage of more than 30 days would be at risk of losing coverage beginning in 2020. • 1.8 million traditional Medicaid beneficiaries would be at risk of losing benefits and/or seeing provider payments cut beginning Oct. 1, 2019, when per capita cost caps would begin to take effect; and WHEREAS the Republican-led AHCA allows individual states to let insurance companies charge people with pre-existing conditions more for health insurance (which is illegal under Obamacare) if states meet certain conditions, like setting up high-risk insurance pools, which experts say the legislation grossly underfunds; and WHEREAS according to the Michigan League for Public Policy, about 2.2 million Michiganders could lose health care coverage under the Republican-proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act; and WHEREAS the following from the Center for American Progress, based on congressional districts representing Oakland County, illustrates how many people currently benefiting from Obamacare today, District # U.S. Congress member Nonelderly Medicaid (non-ACA) Medicaid Expansion (Healthy Ml) Employer Sponsored Health Care ACA Exchanges/ and other Total projected to lose health coverage because of AHCA 8 Mike Bishop (R) 10,100 6,000 19,600 2,400 38,200 9 Sandy Levin (D) 14,000 9,000 17,100 2,900 43,000 11 Dave Trott (R) 5,800 4,900 21,100 2,500 34,200 14 Brenda Lawrence (D) 20,200 16,600 12,800 2,200 51,700 but whose health care coverage is at risk if AHCA becomes law; and WHEREAS U.S. Congressmen Mike Bishop and Dave Trott voted YES on the AHCA, and Congressman Sander Levin and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence voted NO; and WHEREAS without the votes of Oakland County's Congressmen Mike Bishop and Dave Trott the AHCA would not have passed the U.S. House of Representatives. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners opposes the Republican-led health care plan known as AHCA. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if members of Congress, representing portions of Oakland County seek better health care for Oakland County residents, then the Oakland County Board of Commissioners urges them to oppose the AHCA and any other health care plan that reduces access to health care, decreases quality of health care, and threatens solvency of health care systems in Oakland County. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby affirms it support for expanding access to and improving quality to health for all Oakland County residents. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Oakland County Board of Commissioners respectfully requests the members of the U.S. House of Representatives that represent portions of Oakland County come and address the board to explain to the citizens of Oakland County the reason for their vote. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds is requested to forward copies of this adopted resolution to the Governor of the State of Michigan, the Oakland County Congressional delegation of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senators for the State of Michigan. Chairperson, I move the adoption of the foregoing Resolution. missioner Daiotl-Woadvrard District #1 9 Commissioner District CoMmissioner District #1 -y Commissioner Distr. t ,0 JP Comm is onen District # 20 Commissioner District # Commissioner District* Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District# Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District* Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner District # Commissioner Commissioner District # District # Resolution #17130 May 10, 2017 The Chairperson referred the resolution to the General Government Committee. There were no objections.