Several Congressional insiders report that once the Democrats control the House, they plan to make health care more affordable. They would undo President Trump’s cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. They also are considering expanding Medicare, report Jarrell Dillard and Rachel Roubein for The Washington Post.
Democrats are looking into different ways of expanding Medicare, including lowering the age of Medicare eligibility and adding new benefits. They are looking to add an out-of-pocket cap to traditional Medicare, so that people have financial protection even if they don’t have supplemental coverage.
The moderate and progressive Democrats are working to forge consensus. They all appreciate that simply reversing Trump’s health care cuts will not do enough to make health care affordable. They also appreciate the limitations of Medicare Advantage, including difficulty accessing cancer centers of excellence and other high quality providers as well as prior authorization hurdles that too often lead to inappropriate delays and denials of care.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told me that he had appointed Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Terri Sewell (Alabama), a progressive and a moderate to head a task force looking at how to make health care affordable. At the top of the list, where there is full agreement is undoing the Trump cuts to subsidies in the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.
Of course, Trump is not likely to support those objectives. They can only happen with a Democrat in the White House. Without these changes, the Congressional Budget Office projects that 11.5 million Americans will lose health care coverage.
Some Democrats are focused on Medicare for all, which is gaining traction, and even more are supportive of reforms that would make an improved version of Medicare available to everyone who wants it.
Some Democrats are moving to lower the cost of prescription drugs and add dental, vision and hearing benefits to Medicare and some are supporting adding long-term care benefits. Some are focused on limiting out-of-pocket costs for people with Medicare. Some are trying to break up UnitedHealth, CVS Health and other corporate health care behemoths.
Both Democrats and Republicans are speaking out against corporate health insurance, particularly insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans. The HHS Office of the Inspector General has found Medicare Advantage plans to be engaged in widespread and persistent delays and denials of care. The insurers have also been found to be overcharging taxpayers tens of billions of dollars a year.
Here’s more from Just Care:
