Elections Have Consequences
By Albert B. Kelly
I’m not sure who said it or when, but the phrase “elections
have consequences” came to mind as I thought about the post mortem underway in
the wake of the November 8th presidential election results. Depending on your
preferred candidate, you’re ecstatic or despairing- not much middle ground
here.
Yet beyond the agony and ecstasy, what happened on November
8th will unfold in countless ways in the lives of individuals and families in
our area. And even as I consider how, my concern is less about the winner and
more about the voices who will be whispering in his ear.
Consider Tom Price, Republican House member from Georgia.
Mr. Price has been nominated to be the next Secretary of Health and Human
Services. Why should that matter? Because he absolutely hates the Affordable
Care Act also known as the ACA (aka Obamacare) and will do everything in his
power to dismantle the program.
Now if you’re on the ecstasy side of this, then perhaps
you’re thrilled with Mr. Price heading up HHS. If you’re on the despairing side
of things- then not so much.
No matter which end of the agony-ecstasy scale you’re on, if
you’re one of the thousands in our area who got insurance for the first time
under the ACA, then we should be concerned.
Not for nothing, but over 16, 000 people in Cumberland
County enrolled in the ACA for their insurance; over 6,200 through the
marketplace and over 9,700 through NJ Family Care.
This number might have been higher, but Trenton refused to
do a state insurance exchange which meant no funding from Washington DC for
outreach and marketing of the ACA- which might well have kicked up the numbers
beyond the actual enrollment.
If Tom Price has his way, many of these 16,000 folks in
Cumberland County that did enroll will be without health insurance in the near
future. I can’t help but think about the hardship this will cause.
It will be physical suffering from a lack of health care,
but it will also be stress about how to pay medical bills previously covered by
the insurance they no longer have, not to mention the pressure on the local
economy as households sink under the burden of medical bills.
Cumberland County ranks last in the state’s health rankings,
which measure everything from diet, exercise, and tobacco use; to air quality,
employment, and most importantly access to care. Being ranked 21st, I guess we
can only go up. If Price has his way, that will be a lot harder.
With Tom Price as HHS Secretary, we’ll be back to no
insurance for preexisting conditions and insurance companies will be back to
imposing lifetime dollar limits on health benefits, no small thing if you’re
dealing with cancer or another chronic condition.
The average enrollee in NJ got an average tax credit of $323
per month through the marketplace under the ACA and this would be eliminated.
If Price is heading HHS, insurance companies will no longer have to cover
addiction treatment, prescription drugs, birth control, or maternity care.
But even if you could care less about the ACA, then maybe
the fact that Tom Price wants to implement deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid
might get your attention. He has also
floated plans to turn Medicaid into a block grant that would be turned over to
the states.
Without a nationwide standard enforced by the federal
government, you can imagine that Medicaid will end up being a crapshoot as far
as services and costs depending on which state you’re in at the time.
Mr. Price backs a plan to turn Medicare into what’s been
dubbed “premium support”, which means they’ll basically eliminate Medicare in
its current form and hand senior citizens a few bucks to buy private insurance-
almost like school vouchers.
If that happens, you can bet that whatever “premium support”
seniors get won’t be nearly enough to cover their costs while the price of
insurance, medication, and healthcare keep rising.
But hey, the feds will have cut entitlement spending and
that should help us sleep better at night, even if it comes at the expense of
senior citizens.
So yes Virginia, elections have real consequences far beyond
celebrity. Depending on how things go, those consequences could soon be felt by
the roughly 20,000 residents over 65 and the 16,000-plus ACA enrollees who call
Cumberland County home. We hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.