WASHINGTON - One day after House Republicans voted to delay key provisions of his signature health care initiative, President Barack Obama Thursday pushed back at critics by touting how the legislation has already provided "dividends" to many Americans. "For years, too many middle-class families saw their health care costs go up and up and up, without much explanation as...
WASHINGTON - One day after House Republicans voted to delay key provisions of his signature health care initiative, President Barack Obama Thursday pushed back at critics by touting how the legislation has already provided "dividends" to many Americans.
"For years, too many middle-class families saw their health care costs go up and up and up, without much explanation as to why or how their money was being spent," Obama said. "But today, because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies have to spend at least 80 percent of every dollar that you pay in premiums on your health care -- not on overhead, not on profits, but on you."
Those that don't have to rebate the difference to consumers, he said.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, insurance companies paid 8.5 million Americans, including nearly 81,000 in Louisiana -- over $500 million in rebates. The rebates average $50 per recipient in Louisiana.
Obama said that there are "lots of folks" in Washington "rooting for this law to fail." The president said he hasn't heard any alternatives from his critics, "just the same old song and dance."
Surrounded by people the White House said benefited from the law, Obama repeated some of their stories.
"It's about the dad in Maryland who, for the first time ever, saw his family's premiums go down instead of up," Obama said. "It's about the grandma in Oregon whose free mammogram caught her breast cancer before it had a chance to spread. It's about the mom in Arizona who can afford heart surgery for her little girl now that the lifetime cap on her coverage has been lifted."The GOP-led House voted Wednesday to delay two provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, or, as it is referred to by both supporters and opponents, Obamacare.
It marks the 38th time the GOP-led House has voted to delay, or repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act. Like all the previous bills, these two have no chance of making it through the Democratic-controlled Senate, or being signed into law by President Barack Obama.
The first bill, approved 264-161, would codify the decision by the Obama administration to delay the so-called employer mandate. The mandate, which requires employers with 50 or more workers to provide health coverage, or pay a fine, was due to take effect on January 1.
The second bill, which passed 251-174, would delay, also for a year, the mandate that individuals purchase health insurance, although subsidies are available for people earning between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. That's up to $94,000 for a family of four.
For individuals, eligibility for subsidies cover incomes between $11,000 and $46,000.
The subsidies are highest for people with the lowest incomes, and decline as incomes rise until the maximum established under the law.
Both bills were supported by the state's five Republican members - Steve Scalise of Jefferson, Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge, Rodney Alexander of Quitman, Charles Boustany of Lafayette and John Fleming of Minden. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, cast the only Louisiana votes against the two bills.
Republicans argued that it is only fair to give individuals the same extra year that the Obama administration decided to give businesses to comply with the health care act, which they unanimously opposed.
It was due to take effect January 1.
"By delaying the employer mandate, President Obama finally agreed with what we've long said -- his healthcare law is unworkable and not ready for prime time, " Scalise said. "American families deserve the same protection from the President's failing healthcare law that the Obama Administration gave businesses earlier this month."
Added Cassidy: "By delaying the business mandate the Administration has admitted that Obamacare is not going to work for businesses. However, just delaying the business mandate won't protect American families from skyrocketing premiums and other Obamacare provisions."
Democrats accused Republicans of passing yet another politically motivated bill.
"Isn't it a shame when millions of Americans have no health care, when millions of Americans have no jobs, when people are being furloughed in the defense sector, undermining the security of our country in Virginia and in Maryland, undermining our national security, that we spend our time here on this Floor with 'gotcha' politics, with no expectation whatsoever that either of these bills will ever become law?" said House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "This is simply messaging."
The employer mandate, which the administration recently decided to delay for a year, will have only a minimal impact on implementation of the Affordable Care Act because 95 percent of businesses with over 50 workers already provide health insurance, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
But delaying the individual mandate will have adverse effects, the agency said.
The individual mandate is tied to insurance market reforms -- a prohibition against pre-existing condition exclusions and predatory pricing, among others. The Congressional Budget Office said delaying the individual mandate will increase premiums and decrease coverage.
Louisiana has already decided not to implement key provisions of the health care law -- a Medicaid expansion that would, by some estimates, cover 400,000 uninsured state residents.
Gov. Bobby Jindal has also refused to establish health care exchanges, in which people could shop for health insurance and qualify for subsidies. The federal government will operate an exchange for Louisiana and other states refusing to participate.
Cassidy, a physician, defended Jindal's decision on Medicaid, arguing that the law establishes a system in which those qualifying for the expanded Medicaid eligibility would get health care without deductibles and co-pays while healthy residents, not eligible for subsidies, likely would face higher premiums and reduced coverage as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
While Republicans say that the health law is raising premiums, Obama said the opposite is true, with some states reporting large reductions. And more will come, he said, when internet exchanges open on Oct. 1.
"The good news is that starting October 1st, new online marketplaces will allow consumers to go online and compare private health care insurance plans just like you'd compare over the Internet the best deal on flat-screen TVs, or cars or any other product that is important to your lives," Obama said. "And you're going to see competition in ways that we haven't seen before."