WASHINGTON, DC – “Doing nothing is not an option. In less than two weeks, by August 16, America’s insurers will decide just how much more Americans will have to pay for health coverage next year. Speculation among the experts is rampant that without a Congressional solution, sky-high Obamacare premiums may increase by 20% or more to new, ludicrously excessive levels in 2018,” according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC].
“Offering insurance that is unaffordable is the same as having no insurance at all. So, I implore Congress to hunker down and find a solution.”
Senator John McCain of Arizona, who had just had tricky brain surgery, risked his life a week ago to attend a failed Senate vote on the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, but he voted no on the bill. Weber believes that McCain should keep his promise to rid us of Obamacare and is asking him to make a courageous decision and change his vote to support a replacement bill. “There are much better alternatives to the ACA,” Weber says.
“Senator McCain put the kibosh on the proposal for reasons that remain unclear. Here’s a hero, both in wartime and in peacetime, who has the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing when it counts; and it counts right now. One can only assume that his history of promising a repeal of the Affordable Care Act was sincere when he made it. So, I call on him to keep his promises and take the lead in an effort to fix health care for the American people now- before it is too late,”
Weber points out that in addition to the prohibitive cost of insurance, too many individuals across the nation will not even be able to purchase Obamacare insurance of any type, even if they could afford it. Insurance companies are abandoning the ACA and pulling out of the Obamacare exchanges at an alarming rate.
Currently, according to a variety of authoritative government and private sector sources, there are 40 counties where no insurer – not a one – is available to those living there. And, the experts tell us that by next year there could be hundreds of counties without Obamacare carriers, Weber says.
A recent article in Insurance Journal notes that “more than 1,300 counties, primarily in 15 states, currently have only one insurer participating in 2018. Anthem and HCSC are the last man standing in one-third of those counties and states – putting those areas in particular at risk.” And, IJ says, Anthem Inc. and Health Care Service Corp., along with Cigna Corp. and Molina Healthcare, are giving serious consideration to pulling out of many of those markets. These are the biggest insurance companies selling Obamacare and they have until September 27 to make their decision to stay or go.
Weber says that it is “unconscionable” that millions of Americans have no access to health care coverage and that millions more will be uncovered when – not if – Obamacare implodes.
“That doesn’t have to happen. For example, an easy-to-implement solution would be to offer a combination of expanded, tax-free Health Savings Accounts, Telehealthcare and a program of Pro Bono Care under which doctors and nurse practitioners would provide health care services free of charge in exchange for tax deductions. All of these improvements and more can be accomplished if John McCain would keep his promise and change his vote.”
