Tag Archives: ACA

Still a Big @&%#ing Deal

18 Friday Jun 2021

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And here to stay.

Yesterday, in a 7-2 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act.

…For these reasons, we conclude that the plaintiffs in this suit failed to show a concrete, particularized injury fairly traceable to the defendants’ conduct in enforcing the specific statutory provision they attack as unconstitutional. They have failed to show that they have standing to attack as unconstitutional the Act’s minimum essential coverage provision. Therefore, we reverse the Fifth Circuit’s judgment in respect to standing, vacate the judgment, and remand the case with instructions to dismiss.

It is so ordered.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (r) whiffs yet again.

From the White House:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2021

Statement by President Joe Biden on the U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land.

Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision is a major victory for all Americans benefitting from this groundbreaking and life-changing law. It is a victory for more than 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions and millions more who were in immediate danger of losing their health care in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic.

It is a victory for every American who, prior to the Affordable Care Act, stayed up at night staring at the ceiling, wondering whether they would lose everything if they or a loved one got sick. Because of this law, they don’t have to worry about being denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition like diabetes or watching their coverage being capped during a cancer treatment. Because of the law, they are able to get free preventive screenings that can save their lives and improve their health. Today’s victory is also for all the young people who can stay on their parents’ insurance plan until they turn 26 years old, and for the millions of low-income families and people with disabilities receiving health care because their states expanded Medicaid under this law.

After more than a decade of attacks on the Affordable Care Act through the Congress and the courts, today’s decision – the third major challenge to the law that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected – it is time move forward and keep building on this landmark law.

That is what we are doing thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which has lowered health care costs and expanded coverage for millions of Americans through the Affordable Care Act. More than 1.2 million Americans signed up for coverage under the law through a special enrollment period I established during this pandemic, which people can still sign up for through August 15th. And I look forward to working with the Congress to build on this law so that the American people will continue to have access to quality and affordable health care.

Today’s decision affirms that the Affordable Care Act is stronger than ever, delivers for the American people, and gets us closer to fulfilling our moral obligation to ensure that, here in America, health care is a right and not a privilege.

###

A big @&%#ing deal.

Joe Biden (D) [2014 file photo].

Rep. Jason Smith (r): talk, talk, talk

24 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Healthcare, social media

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Chutzpah, too.

Rep. Jason Smith @RepJasonSmith
For our community, access to care isn’t just a talking point – it’s a matter of life or death. Last week, I continued my fight for rural healthcare and met with Director Carroll of the @ONDCP and @GovParsonMO for a roundtable in Cape Girardeau.
[….]
9:49 AM · Feb 24, 2020

Hypocrisy, they think it’s a good look.

The replies, as always, are priceless:

You have devoted your entire career, both in the Missouri General Assembly and in the Congress, to blocking healthcare for working people in your District. Besides the health effects, your actions have resulted in closed hospitals in your District.

you’ve been active in preventing access.

You want to protect folks with pre-existing conditions — but at a higher price for them. Currently the ACA which you oppose makes it illegal to consider pre-existing conditions in pricing. So you want to repeal the ACA to change that? Why? Keep your filthy hands off the ACA.

How about helping Missouri expand Medicaid to save rural hospitals. It was Gingrich’s and Heritage’s plan. Time to stop being stupid because of Obama. He’s done. You can try thinking with you own brain now. 36 states accept our federal expanded Medicaid dollars. And Gov. Pence.

You voted to kill my insurance.
#shuttheFupyouliar

Yes Jason, it can be life or death, but your voting record tells a different story than this talking point.

Oh please. You voted to take away healthcare from Missourians

Um… @RepJasonSmith voted against ACA – the exact opposite of which you are telling people today. What’s up with that?

Medicaid expansion would automatically cover 200,000 more Missouri residents and save us $100 million! The feds cover 90% of the cost. [….]

At this point you’re just punking us.

Getting scared, bro? Remember when you celebrated voting to repeal the ACA with no replacement? Yeah, I do. Y’all brought beer in to celebrate. You’ve been fighting to TAKE AWAY healthcare, you lying PoS.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): bless her heart

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

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Over two years ago:

GOP Aims To Kill Obamacare Yet Again After Failing 70 Times (July 29, 2017)

It didn’t happen. It was all about repeal anyway.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) [2018 file photo].

This afternoon, from Representative Vicky Hartzler (r):

Rep. Vicky Hartzler @RepHartzler
Our healthcare system is failing. High premiums force many to forgo insurance; sky-high deductibles mean they can’t afford to use it.

I look forward to working with @HouseGOP on a plan to protect those with pre-existing conditions and give Americans more control over healthcare.
2:59 PM · Oct 15, 2019

Yeah, right.

Medicare for all would work great.

Some of the responses:

I dunno. Ever think about something like the Affordable Care Act?

GOP had control for 2 years and came up with nothing.

Rich coming from someone who tried her damndest to eliminate health care coverage for millions of Americans.
#Hypocrite

How? You had full control for two years and the only thing you tried to do with healthcare was take it away!

Yep.

JUST STOP LYING!!! The @GOP wants to gut healthcare and you know it!!! Do your job stand up for us and against the criminal in the Oval. Hawley barely won you and @RoyBlunt have an up hill climb after you crapped on the small family owned farms. Get to work and impeach him!!!

Nah, she’s all in.

Why don’t you/they already have one. Trump PROMISED during his 2016 campaign that he had the BEST plan, with better coverage and lower premiums than the ACA.

Ask him to show you THAT great plan!

(Or was that a false promise, just like yours . . . . )

They were never going to create one, they were just going to take the one people had away.

So I guess that TWELVE YEARS you and your @GOP handlers said you were working hard on a superior replacement for the ACA was a lie?

Give or take a few. Actually, around eight years for Representative Hartzler (r).

Welcome to America (and Missouri) in 2019

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Yep, this about sums it up:

Elad Gross @BigElad
Good morning, Missouri.

Today, our Attorney General is in federal court arguing that we should eliminate health care coverage for Americans who have preexisting conditions.

Let’s get a new Attorney General.
[….]
7:32 AM – 9 Jul 2019

Non-existent Trumpcare, courtesy of Eric Schmitt (r).

Elad Gross (D) [2019 file photo].

Well?

03 Friday May 2019

Posted by in Josh Hawley, social media, US Senate

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Josh Hawley (r) [2016 file photo].

This:

Pamela Merritt @SharkFu
The only questions anyone should have for Josh @HawleyMO should be about his plan to maintain healthcare access if his lawsuit guts ACA. He placed healthcare in peril for thousands of Missourians. Where’s the policy? What’s the plan? Hello? How do you sleep at night?
7:40 PM – 2 May 2019

“…How do you sleep at night?”

Probably doesn’t. Working out? Shopping for wine? Oh, wait, that’s during the day…

So, why hasn’t Medicaid Expansion happened in Missouri?

31 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by in Healthcare, Missouri General Assembly, social media

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Good question.

From Representative Kip Kendrick (D):

Kip Kendrick @Kip_Kendrick
Missourians represent at least a quarter million of these individuals.

Kaiser Family Foundation @KaiserFamFound
Nationally, 2.5 million poor uninsured adults fall into the “coverage gap” that results from state decisions not to expand Medicaid.
They earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to…

3:09 PM – 30 Mar 2019

Rep. Kip Kendrick (D) [2019 file photo].

The human toll, from the Kaiser Family Foundation:

Table 1: Uninsured Adults in Non-Expansion States Who Would Be Eligible for Medicaid if Their States Expanded by Current Eligibility for Coverage, 2017

State Total Currently Eligible for Medicaid Currently in the Coverage Gap (<100% FPL) Currently May Be Eligible for Marketplace Coverage (100%-138% FPL**)

Missouri 232,000 13,000 124,000 95,000

[emphasis added]

And:

[….]

The ACA Medicaid expansion was designed to address the high uninsured rates among low-income adults, providing a coverage option for people with limited access to employer coverage and limited income to purchase coverage on their own. In states that expanded Medicaid, millions of people gained coverage, and the uninsured rate dropped significantly as a result of the expansion. However, with many states opting not to implement the Medicaid expansion, millions of uninsured adults remain outside the reach of the ACA and continue to have limited options for affordable health coverage. From 2016 to 2017, non-expansion states saw a significant increase in their uninsured rate, while expansion states saw a decrease.

By definition, people in the coverage gap have limited family income and live below the poverty level. They are likely in families employed in very low wage jobs, employed part-time, or with a fragile or unpredictable connection to the workforce. Given limited offer rates of employer-based coverage for employees with these work characteristics, it is likely that they will continue to fall between the cracks in the employer-based system.

It is unlikely that people who fall into the coverage gap will be able to afford ACA coverage, as they are not eligible for premium subsidies: in 2019, the national average unsubsidized premium for a 40-year-old non-smoking individual purchasing coverage through the Marketplace was $478 per month for the lowest-cost silver plan and $340 per month for a bronze plan, which equates to nearly eighty percent of income for those at the lower income range of people in the gap and more than a third of income for those at the higher income range of people in the gap.

If they remain uninsured, adults in the coverage gap are likely to face barriers to needed health services or, if they do require medical care, potentially serious financial consequences. Many are in fair or poor health or are in the age range when health problems start to arise but lack of coverage may lead them to postpone needed care due to the cost. While the safety net of clinics and hospitals that has traditionally served the uninsured population will continue to be an important source of care for the remaining uninsured under the ACA, this system has been stretched in recent years due to increasing demand and limited resources.

Most people in the coverage gap live in the South, leading state decisions about Medicaid expansion to exacerbate geographic disparities in health coverage. In addition, because several states that have not expanded Medicaid have large populations of people of color, state decisions not to expand their programs disproportionately affect people of color, particularly Black Americans. As a result, state decisions about whether to expand Medicaid have implications for efforts to address disparities in health coverage, access, and outcomes among people of color.

[….]

From former State Representative Chris Kelly (D):

Chris Kelly @repckelly
And virtually all of them are working.
Props to @Kip_Kendrick for articulating this serious problem.
7:31 AM – 31 Mar 2019

But, the right wingnut republican majority in the Missouri General Assembly can’t believe this problem has adverse affects on rural Missourians? Right.

You’re a mean one, Mr. Hawley…

15 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in Josh Hawley, social media, US Senate

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“I truly hope that God affords you the opportunity to feel the terror that I feel tonight about my son’s health insurance.”

Josh Hawley (r) [2016 file photo].

The U.S. District Court judge in Texas who was sitting on an ACA/Obamacare ruling before the November election ruled on Friday night (the day before ACA enrollment closes) that the ACA is “unconstitutional”.

Right wingnut republican Josh Hawley (the new senator-elect from Missouri) wasted no time in dancing on everybody’s graves via Twitter:

Josh Hawley @HawleyMO
Tonight TX court has declared Obamacare individual mandate unconstitutional. Now it’s time for both parties to work together to lower healthcare costs, improve access to quality care for all, and protect those with preexisting conditions
8:51 PM – 14 Dec 2018

Well, first, it’s a U.S. District judge, it ain’t the Court of Appeals nor the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s maybe a first step.

Second, Josh, you’ve never had a “plan” nor will you ever “work together” on affordable and accessible healthcare for Americans.

We knew that already.

Some of the responses to Josh Hawley’s (r) Twitter happy dance:

Thank this judge for making a much stronger case for Medicare for all.

Going to be difficult to do with you having to respond to subpoenas in Jeff City.

There’s that.

Go fuck your self you piece of shit fraud.

I agree

Honestly, I have absolutely no confidence from you and your so called Republican Party providing a viable health care solution. @royblunt, @gop The Tea Party is a oligarch scam on America.

No one is going to work with some 38 year old creep who is under investigation for pissing away tax payer money. [….]

There’s that.

You’re on big boy. Time to finally reveal your #ACA replacement that still makes healthcare affordable for people with pre-existing conditions.

My dude, we have a law that does that already; it’s called Obamacare.

No, the time to work that out was BEFORE. #murderer

Let me get this right. First, take away healthcare. Next, spend yrs & yrs trying to fix it and come-up empty handed (because the Republican majority already did that) so let’s do it again wasting time, money, & lives. @HawleyMO works for the GOP, not the people. #ThisIsNotProLife

No, now is not the time. The time was 8 years ago after the ACA was passed. It was flawed but better than nothing, but all Republicans have done since then is whine about it and do all they could to gut it instead of improving it. No alternative plan. Shame.

Your party had a decade to come up with something.

With no replacement, your only goal was to redistribute wealth from people who work & pay for their coverage.

We had that, or at least a good start towards it, until you ruined it. Jacka$$.

Get absolutely wrecked, ladder-climber.

And what are we supposed to do in the meantime? It took almost a year from the draft of the ACA to signingbit into law. Months of debate, input from experts, analysis from the CBO, mark-ups in multiple committees. The law didn’t have to be thrown out. It could have been fixed.

Fixing the existing law would have been faster and provided the Americans affected by your completely self-serving political ambition a measure of stability and security.

The GOP doesn’t care.

The ACA as originally written was upheld by SCOTUS in 2012. With Trump’s modifications, it’s now flawed. Your party did this. You’ve said you wanted to replace ACA for 8 years. Where’s the plan? Rs only destroy…don’t create solutions for Americans.

Special place in hell for you sir. Trying to be a hero by swiping healthcare from millions. I bet mommy is proud.

You mean all of the things that ACA does

You must believe Medicare for All will be more effective

Odd for a Republican.

Congratulations on your great con of “protecting those with pre-existing conditions” – well done! Your party’s mission to take essential healthcare away from tens of millions takes a major step forward. Congrats again!

Your a bad person Josh. You’ve brought a lot of stress and uncertainty into the lives of people with health conditions. The ACA has helped a lot of people, and you’ve done everything you can to destroy the good that’s been done. For you, healthcare is a privilege for the few.

Josh doesn’t care–he’ll have more than adequate healthcare in prison. #LastRepublicanSenatorFromMissouri

YOU did this.
YOU.
Your lawsuit.

Yes indeed, his lawsuit & lawsuits from other states AG in attempt to “remedy” an imaginary problem with ACA that will not fix anything, only make everything worse. And god bless those bastards the all used our state tax dollars to do it.

People of Missouri lost their goddamn minds electing you.

The GOP has worked to eliminate protections for patients, allow insurers to sell junk plans & increase costs for local hospitals. Please expand on your ideas Sen-Elect NO PLAN. You now have Congressional coverage. What’s your JOSH-I-DUNNO MAYBE-GO-FUND-ME NO-COVERAGE-PLAN for us?

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the Affordable Care Act does, but it doesn’t work unless young healthy people buy in. So, you just made every one of those agenda items harder, less likely and more expensive.

Which is exactly the outcome they were looking for.

Fighting to remove ACA consumer protections without a better plan anywhere in sight, is cruel and irresponsible. One step closer to health care Armageddon for the middle class and poor.
Worse health danger than any disease…. clueless politicians.

I truly hope that God affords you the opportunity to feel the terror that I feel tonight about my son’s health insurance.

Let’s help this arsonist put out the fire he started…

You lied to Missourians and I sincerely hope your day in court comes soon!

You’ve now successfully gutted pre-existing protection for millions of Americans. Congratulations on being evil. You wear it well.

They had all that already with the ACA, but sure…

Hell isn’t hot enough for these people.

So where’s your plan, big mouth?

Exactly what health care economic reform plan are you referring to?
Ohhh the one that does not exist, so anyone buying health insurance is even more screwed than ever before. You are a political prostitute for the health insurers like most of Congress.

Liar. You are a bold faced liar. How does it feel? Does your conscience ever bother you, knowing that you lie so frequently…and that your true stance on health care coverage will kill innocents? How does it feel to be tihs sort of being?

For the last 10 years, GOP did nothing but obstruct when it came to developing a proper healthcare solution. Hawley is lying. They have no interest in helping anybody with a good healthcare plan.

You are so full of it. Fraud.

GOP wanted nothing to do with the #ACA when Obama was trying to protect people with pre-existing conditions and then sabotaged it at every chance they had.

Exactly. GOP howls against ACA for years and is now going to the come to the table for a bipartisan alternative? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Hawley’s tweet would be gold as an Onion headline. As real life, it’s just depressing.

Because the best way to protect those with preexisting conditions is to take away protection for those with preexisting conditions

And on and on.

Previously:

U.S. Senate: Josh Hawley (r) theenks your reely, reely stoopit (September 24, 2018)

Renee Hoagenson (D) in the 4th Congressional District – we get mail

30 Tuesday Oct 2018

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This arrived today:

Vicky Hartzler Hurts Missouri Families

Voted to cut Medicare and end protections for pre-existing condition coverage

Abandoned the family farmer to falling price, rising costs, and destructive tariffs

Cosponsored H.R. 785, the National Right to Work Act, when 2 our of 3 Missourians voted no on Prop A

Hey, we recognize that image.

U.S. Senate: Josh Hawley (r) theenks your reely, reely stoopit

24 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in Claire McCaskill, US Senate

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McCaskill’s right: Hawley’s lawsuit would end Affordable Care Act protections
By Hannah Archambault, Theo DeRosa, Matthew Hall on Thursday, September 13th, 2018 at 12:41 p.m.
[….]
Pre-existing conditions
“Sen. McCaskill is correct,” said Nicholas Bagley, law professor at the University of Michigan Law School. “The states that brought the Texas lawsuit have asked the court to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act — lock, stock and barrel.”
No consumer protections in the individual health market stipulated under the act would remain because the whole law would be gone.
[….]

Estimated Number of Nonelderly Adults with Declinable Pre-existing Conditions under Pre-ACA Practices [data from 2015]

State: Missouri
Estimated number of non-elderly adults: 1,090,000
Percent of non-elderly population: 30%

Notes
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) changed private insurance market rules to prevent medical underwriting, or examining an applicant’s medical history to determine whether or under what terms to issue coverage. The data presented here estimate how many American adults could face difficulty obtaining insurance in the individual market if the ACA were repealed or amended and the medical underwriting practices in place prior to 2014 resumed.
For more information and a description of the methodology, please see Pre-existing Conditions and Medical Underwriting in the Individual Insurance Market Prior to the ACA.
Sources
Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of 2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

[emphasis added]

Josh Hawley (r) [2016 file photo].

Via Twitter, this afternoon:

Josh Hawley @HawleyMO
Wanted to share a little about my family and our journey, and my commitment to protecting people with preexisting conditions — like my son #MOSen
[….]
3:33 PM – 24 Sep 2018

Some of the responses:

You’re in a lawsuit to take away preexisting conditions from families but want to talk about yours? Are you kidding?
WE’RE ON TO YOU!!!
You’re so deep in the pockets of your DARK MONEY DONORS you can’t see straight!!! I’m sorry I voted for you the first time!

Nice try

then take your state out of the lawsuit Josh, real simple. If not what is your plan to immediately cover those with pre-existing conditions an affordable healthcare? We haven’t seen the details, please share them, not talking points,.

Wow, how stupid do you think people are?

Reely stoopit.

You’re adopting the “black is white, up is down” strategy I see.

So you are trying to destroy the preexisting protection that the ACA offers and make this shit?

Republicans only care when it affects them directly.

What utter BS

Then withdraw your lawsuit and return all of your dark money contributions and Big Pharma and Big Health Insurance contributions. You’re not fooling anybody. We don’t believe you! Just another #HawleyWhopper!

You’re literally trying to do the opposite. Liar.

Corny ad. And, oh yeah, complete bullshit, too.

Piece of crap.

But WAIT. People want pre-existing conditions to be protected!! Will NOT vote for Hawley. Def not.

Umm. bullshit.

Wow. What a shameless liar.

You are currently suing to remove preexisting condition protections. This ad is one huge lie.

Hey Josh , you are a fucking imbecile

You’re suing to end these protections. Are you fuking kidding me???

You’re a sick liar. You’re suing to end this rules.

fuck you liar

You will kill millions
OR you will bankrupt those too
You are heartless!
#VoteBlueToSaveAmerica

You are a liar. #Deplorable #FakeChristian #Asshole

We have already met our quota of moron republicans in the senate.

FUCKING LIAR REPUBLICAN FREAKSHOW.

You’re a disingenuous asshole.

Fuck off and quit sending me mailers

Well, this is “The Show Me State”.

The GOP plan for universal access to affordable health care: if you ever get sick, just die already

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Claire McCaskill, Roy Blunt, social media, US Senate

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As it’s always been.

This evening:

Micheal Mahoney @KCMikeMahoney
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt on GOP Senate pre-existing conditions bill, “That bill is not going anywhere. I am not supportive of it.” #RoyBlunt #MOSEN #JoshHawley #ClaireMcCaskill #kmbc
[….]
5:35 PM – 11 Sep 2018 from Kansas City, MO

Somebody forgot to tell Josh Hawley (r).

A comment:

@Meirabb Meira Bernstein
.@HawleyMO, call your office. #mosen
[….]
5:53 PM – 11 Sep 2018

Meira Bernstein wins the Internets today.