WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives passed a resolution Thursday that allows Congress to begin the process of repealing and replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law. Following its passage, Rep. Chris Stewart released the following statement:
I have heard over and over again from my constituents about how Obamacare is failing them. It’s increased premiums, deductibles and forced Americans to change doctors and health care plans. That’s why the House acted today by passing legislation which begins the process of repealing and replacing Obamacare.
I want to reassure my constituents that we are quickly working on a replacement plan. We’ve already laid the foundation for multiple pieces of straightforward legislation, not a comprehensive, overly complex, and confusing 3,000-page bill like Obamacare. Our legislation will make it easier and cheaper to get portable insurance, increases access to and flexibility of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), reforms medical liability laws, spurs competition between insurers and protects individuals with pre-existing conditions.
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I am someone whose family has benefited tremendously from Obamacare. That said, I know that it hasn’t been the greatest for other people.
I believe that any replacement plan has to start with the overarching goal of providing universal access to insurance. If we start the process thinking about the cost first, we will end up back in the days when people more often went bankrupt because of an unexpected illness, had to make pilgrimages to the state capitol to beg the legislators to continue to fund life-saving programs, or didn’t get appropriate preventative care.
I will sing the praises of the current congress and president-elect if they can enact a plan that does at least the following:
• Protect Americans against being denied coverage or charged more for health insurance as a result of a preexisting condition.
• Prohibits lifetime or annual coverage caps, which can otherwise cause individuals with cancer or chronic illnesses and their families to go into crippling medical debt in order to access vital care.
• Preserves the option for young people to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26.
• Protects against unreasonable out-of-pocket costs and premiums that could cause people with chronic illnesses to skip or delay needed care.
• Preserves access to insurance coverage that provides the high-quality, specialized care that people with chronic illnesses require.
Well, over the years the typical response by republicans to requests like these is “let them eat cake”. Libertarianism teaches that if you can’t afford to pay your own way in the medical system then you should be left to die–quickly or slowly–it doesn’t matter, but gov’t WILL NOT give handouts.
It’s becoming more and more apparent to me that many conservatives misunderstand the concept of insurance. They see it like a subscription (like Netflix) and at the end of the year when they didn’t use the system as much as they paid into it, they feel ripped off. (Not saying that rising costs are not a problem, but that those costs need to be reined in without decreasing benefits to people that need health care the most.)
In reality, for most people, insurance is a program by which you buy peace of mind, knowing that if you are unlucky enough to get cancer or another expensive chronic illness, you won’t have to go bankrupt or choose between medical treatment and other necessities.