Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Letter to Rep. Sewell

[Letter sent by email to Rep. Terri Sewell (D), AL 7th Congressional district]

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 14, 2017 at 12:38 PM
Subject: Re: I want to hear from you
To: Representative Terri Sewell <AL07TSIMA@mail.house.gov>

Dear Representative Sewell,
With the CBO report out, it is increasingly clear that the Republican bill mainly effectuates reduced health care spending (and comcomitant reduced health care) by means of Medicaid cutbacks and replacing the subsidies with lower tax credits resulting in less insurance coverage.
The Republicans and the Trump team are endeavoring mightily to avoid the stark reality of the bill.
They are rejecting the CBO report's conclusions, but the Republicans and the Trump team offer no substantive counter-report that sets forth different conclusions to rebut the CBO's conclusions.
They seek to change the subject from "coverage" (by asserting coverage does not result in care being received), to focusing on actual receipt of care.
No doubt high deductibles and other factors are currently resulting in patients choosing not to receive care or otherwise not receiving desired care.
Whatever the amount of desired care that is not currently being received, the Republicans and the Trump team don't provide a credible basis for how their bill will result in actual care being received that is not being received currently.
The main thing the Republicans and the Trump team assert is that increased plan choice and "competition" will result in lower premiums and lower deductibles, and that will result in more insurance coverage and more health care being received.
This is a chimera.
Whatever lower premiums and deductibles result for people who choose not to have coverage or who choose reduced coverage under more plan choices, that will result in higher premiums and higher deductibles for other people. The CBO report fairly well lays this out, reporting that premiums will increase by 15% to 20% through 2020 and then decrease by 10% in 2026.
Further, a 10% decrease by 2026 is hardly increasing the affordability of health care anywhere close to what the Republicans and the Trump team are trying to lead Americans to believe will happen under the Republican plan.
To repeat, the Republicans and the Trump team have no credible counter-report to rebut the CBO's conclusions, and they are only making assertions that are not supported by anything meaningful.
The CBO's full report can be read by download by clicking here.
I believe that Alabamians need to be informed of the foregoing stark realities about the health bill. I am endeavoring to do that in the limited ways that are available to me. I am sure you want to inform Alabamians of such stark realities, and I hope you and your supporters can contribute to that being done.
Thank you.



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