Group Launches Million Dollar Ad Campaign To Push GOP Health Care Agenda
The ads are light on details, but they promise that Republicans will offer more affordable health care by "eliminating senseless regulations." In other health law news, musicians rally to defend the legislation; the Chamber of Commerce talks about what it would like to see with repeal and replace; dismantling the law will affect those dealing with an addiction or mental illness, a report finds; New York passes a measure to ensure women still have access to free birth control; and more.
The Washington Post:
Kicking Off Obamacare Fight, GOP Group Funds Million-Dollar Ad Blitz
The push to repeal and replace President Obama’s health-care law is coming to televisions nationwide starting Thursday night because of a push by a nonprofit group with close ties to House Republican leaders. The American Action Network, a 501(c)(4) group affiliated with the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC and run by key GOP establishment figures, is spending more than $1 million on ads promoting House leaders’ plans on health care. (DeBonis, 1/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Musicians Rally To Defend The Affordable Care Act
The life of a musician can be economically precarious, and the club-gig circuit rarely comes with health insurance. Under the Affordable Care Act, many artists have been able to find and afford coverage for the first time. Now that the law is threatened by the incoming Trump administration, some musicians are speaking out about what that coverage has meant to their lives and livelihoods. (Brown, 1/11)
Reuters:
U.S. Business Lobby Wants Smooth Obamacare Repeal, Warns On Trade
The largest U.S. business lobby group on Wednesday said it could be a mistake to quickly repeal Obamacare without developing a replacement healthcare insurance plan and urged the incoming Trump administration not to erect trade barriers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce faces challenges with the next U.S. president and his team, including overcoming deep divisions on key issues like trade while trying to work together on common goals like repealing President Barack Obama's signature 2010 healthcare law. (Gibson, 1/11)
Columbus Dispatch:
Report: Repeal Of Health-Care Law Will Affect Those Treating Drug Addiction, Mental Illness
More than 220,000 people in Ohio may be unable to afford care for mental illness or drug addiction if congressional Republicans scrap the 2010 health-care law without passing a substitute measure, a new report says. A study released Wednesday by Harvard Medical School and New York University predicts that not only would nearly 1 million people in Ohio lose health coverage through Medicaid or federally subsidized private insurance policies, but thousands would have to find other ways to pay for substance-abuse treatment at a time when deaths in Ohio because of prescription-drug and heroin abuse are at record highs. (Torry and Ludlow, 1/11)
The Associated Press:
NY Bill Would Keep Birth Control Free If 'Obamacare' Revoked
New Yorkers could get free birth control even if President-elect Donald Trump repeals "Obamacare," under legislation proposed by the state attorney general. The bill proposed Wednesday by Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman would guarantee co-pay free coverage, access to a year's worth of contraception at one time, and free vasectomies. (1/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Women Rush To Get IUDS, Fearing Affordable Care Act Repeal
President-elect Donald Trump and the congressional Republicans have claimed that they are going to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with “something terrific.” There are no details so far on what that replacement might entail, but if it doesn’t include access to contraception, then my patients will suffer. And my office isn’t the only one seeing an uptick in requests for IUDs: Planned Parenthood reported Tuesday that demand for that service at its offices has increased 900 percent. Google Trends showed an enormous surge in searches on “IUD” two days after the November election. (Cronbach, 1/11)
Kaiser Health News:
Health Law Sleepers: Six Surprising Health Items That Could Disappear With ACA Repeal
The Affordable Care Act of course affected premiums and insurance purchasing. It guaranteed people with pre-existing conditions could buy health coverage and allowed children to stay on parents’ plans until age 26. But the roughly 2,000-page bill also included a host of other provisions that affect the health-related choices of nearly every American. Some of these measures are evident every day. Some enjoy broad support, even though people often don’t always realize they spring from the statute. (Appleby and Carey, 1/12)
California Healthline:
Roughly 10,000 Covered California Enrollees Lose Premium Subsidies, At Least For Now
Nearly 10,000 Covered California policy holders have lost their federal tax credits — at least temporarily — due to a bookkeeping error by the state health insurance exchange. But Covered California is still trying to contact these individuals and families to fix the problem, and the agency promises to reinstate their tax credits retroactively if they give it permission to verify their income, said Covered California spokeswoman Lizelda Lopez. (Bazar, 1/12)
Pioneer Press:
How To Give Health Insurance Relief? Lawmakers Must Weigh Speed Vs. Control
Finding $300 million to help Minnesotans struggling with health insurance premiums was the easy part. The part that’s been tying Minnesota leaders in knots this month is how to get the money to the people who need it. Lawmakers want to spend the money quickly, accurately and fairly — and may have to choose which of those priorities they care about most. The basic concept is simple: give a state-funded discount of around 25 percent on 2017 premiums to the roughly 120,000 Minnesotans in the individual market who are facing soaring health insurance premiums without federal subsidies to offset them. (Montgomery, 1/11)
