Meehan & Kelly Risk Coverage Of More Than One Million Pennsylvanians, Costing The Economy $4.5 Billion & Over 30,000 Jobs
Congressional Republicans, including Reps. Pat Meehan and Mike Kelly, have started the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan, despite Pennsylvania officials warning it would have a “devastating” impact on hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians.
In a joint press conference yesterday, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and Treasurer Joseph Torsella, spoke of the “irreparable harm” that would be caused by rolling back the Affordable Care Act — as Meehan, Kelly and the GOP hope to do. Gutting the ACA without an adequate replacement would jeopardize health care for 675,000 Pennsylvanians who gained coverage under Governor Wolf’s implementation of the traditional Medicaid expansion, as well as 400,000 others with coverage under the ACA exchange. Officials also warned that the GOP’s actions would hammer the commonwealth’s economy — costing $4.5 billion and over 30,000 jobs.
Despite the devastating consequences to Pennsylvanians, Meehan and Kelly voted for a budget that would repeal the ACA even though they lack a replacement. It is now up to them to explain why they support legislation that would cause health care chaos for families and the economy.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Repealing Obamacare would be ‘devastating,’ top Pa. officials say
Top Pennsylvania officials said Monday that they were bracing for “disastrous” consequences if Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act is repealed – including the loss of health insurance for more than 670,000 Pennsylvanians, many from poor and rural areas.
And 400,000 more residents who signed up for coverage through Obamacare’s insurance exchange will also be left in the lurch, they said.
…The state’s two top financial officers echoed that sentiment Monday, saying a repeal would also lead to the loss of thousands of jobs and contribute to the state’s already-gaping budget deficit, which is projected to grow to $1.7 billion this summer without steps to address it.
…”There will be irreparable harm if Medicaid expansion is rolled back – and it will fall disproportionately on our lowest-income residents,” Treasurer Joseph M. Torsella said at a joint news conference Monday with Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.
DePasquale stressed that Medicaid expansion has helped 63,000 residents get drug treatment – a critical tool in fighting what Wolf has called an epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Medicaid expansion repeal could worsen Pennsylvania budget, officials say
Eliminating Pennsylvania’s Medicaid expansion would impact many more people than the nearly 700,000 who have signed up for the program in the past two years, state officials said Monday in Harrisburg.
Reverting to a pre-Affordable Care Act version of Medicaid could increase Pennsylvania’s state budget deficit by hundreds of millions of dollars and threaten tens of thousands of jobs, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and Treasurer Joe Torsella said during a news conference.
“It will exacerbate an already difficult and troubled budget situation,” Torsella said.
… As President Trump and a Republican-led Congress advance plans to repeal the federal health care law, Pennsylvania and other states that expanded Medicaid under the law are fighting to preserve the federal funds that the expansions bring into states.
Gov. Tom Wolf sent letters to Congress in December outlining the health law’s benefits. State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Pittsburgh, said he plans to launch a study in the next week or two that would gather facts about the state impacts of repeal.
“When you take a look at the folks who have an interest in this, who will be impacted by it, it’s quite literally every Pennsylvanian,” Frankel said. “What will happen if a million Pennsylvanians lose their health insurance — somebody somewhere ends up paying for that. It’s not just in dollars and cents, but it’s also in human capital.”
PennLive: Repeal of Medicaid expansion could hit hard in Pa. Trump county
Repealing the Medicaid expansion portion of the Affordable Care Act without a comparable replacement could leave 675,000 Pennsylvanians uninsured — a population consisting mostly of “rural, working poor,” a pair of state officials said.
…Eliminating the expansion also would result in an estimated $4.5 billion loss to the state economy, and endanger an estimated 32,000 or more jobs created as a result of expanding Medicaid, they said.
…The two state officials also stressed that expanded Medicaid includes drug addiction treatment, which they said has provided treatment for 63,000 state residents and has been critically important as the state faces an opioid addiction and overdose crisis that killed 3,500 people last year
…Beyond the Medicaid expansion, more than 400,000 other Pennsylvania residents have coverage obtained through the Obamacare electronic marketplace, or exchange. That coverage is also threatened, and will become unaffordable if Congress takes away federal subsidies that make it affordable for many.
WHTM – ABC27: State’s fiscal officers warn against rolling back ACA’s Medicaid expansion without replacement
As the Trump administration begins dismantling the Affordable Care Act put into place by his predecessor, longtime opponents of the sweeping health care reform are working to figure out what to replace it with.
But with no clear alternative plan on the horizon, the state’s top fiscal officials have some ominous warnings for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians.
…Gov. Tom Wolf fully expanded Medicaid coverage in 2015 under the ACA. Since then, the fiscal officers said, 675,000 new people are covered. Some of those people would be able to find other insurance if the expansion is repealed, Torsella said, but he estimated 585,000 of them (including 100,000 children) would not be covered.
The state received just under $3 billion in payments from the federal government in the last fiscal year due to the expansion, he said, and tens of thousands of jobs were directly created. That will be lost, the pair said, if it’s rolled back.
“I know that that loss of economic activity will result in a loss of revenues both at the state level and at the local government level,” Torsella said.
WTAJ: Top state officials worried about Obamacare
Auditor General Eugene Depasquale, and Treasurer Joe Torsella called a news conference to voice their concerns about possible elimination of the Medicaid Expansion Program. It covers more than 675,000 Pennsylvanians, many of them living in rural areas.
They urged the state’s congressional delegation not to eliminate the program, without creating an adequate replacement. DePasquale said the move would have devastating consequences for residents covered by it, as well as a ripple effect on rural hospitals, the state’s economy, and efforts to battle the opioid epidemic.
“While the state is spending about $20 million to set up Centers for Excellence, funding for the actual treatment will come from Medicaid, so again, if you believe the opioid crisis is real and believe the state of Pennsylvania needs to work to tackle it, Medicaid Expansion is a critical tool to fight that.”
The state treasurer estimates that eliminating the Medicaid Expansion could cost the state economy $4.5 billion.
Central Penn Business Journal: State officials push to keep Medicaid expansion
With major changes to the nation’s health care system coming at the federal level, state officials are pressing to save Medicaid expansion, warning that its end would exact personal and financial costs on Pennsylvania.
…The expansion loosened the qualifications for Medicaid, giving access to more working families, and increased the amount of federal dollars going to the program.
As a result of the changes, an estimated 675,000 Pennsylvanians gained access to health insurance, thousands of jobs were created and $3 billion in federal reimbursement flowed into Pennsylvania in 2016 – which has helped hospitals and health care centers.
Expansion also has been critical in the state’s bipartisan efforts to combat the opioid pain pill and heroin epidemic, DePasquale said.
Since 2015, 63,000 Medicaid patients have been treated for substance abuse disorder, and investing in treatment is a key effort undertaken by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.
…Eliminating expansion could reduce the state’s total economic activity by about $4.5 billion, and add at least $300 million to the state’s structural deficit, according to Torsella, a Democrat who was elected in 2016.
In addition, the end of expansion would shift costs for health care to other areas of the state’s budget, Torsella added.
“This is about math – not about party politics,” Torsella said.
…Data showing the negative impact of an ACA repeal without a replacement has been pouring out since last week when the House and the Senate approved a federal budget that would repeal select parts of the health care law.