EAST TENNESSEANS ARE STRUGGLING UNDER THE PRESIDENT'S HEALTH CARE LAW

Once again my Congressman, Phil Roe, is right on the money...

 

East Tennesseans Are Struggling Under the President’s Health Care Law​

This week, after his administration announced that Healthcare.gov was finally working, President Obama launched his campaign to promote his health law. Over the next few weeks, the president plans to tout the law’s successes, but the list of Obamacare’s failures is much longer, and stretches far beyond a broken website. During his speech on Tuesday, the president told stories of people that have been helped by Obamacare, but what about those hurting because of it?

Kelly is a single mother from East Tennessee. She works hard to provide for her family and is trying to pay to go back to school. Kelly said, “I felt it was important to have health care coverage. I had purchased what I could afford. The policy wasn't ideal but reasonable. However, that policy will go away come the first of the year. I have been on the health insurance marketplace. I was floored to find either with my premiums or out of pocket cost would be almost three-quarters of my income.”

Unfortunately, Kelly’s story is one being lived by more than 2 million Americans that will lose their health insurance because it does not meet the standard set by Obamacare. I believe that when the president and his allies argue that plans like the one Kelly purchased are substandard, it's a smack in the face to all the people, like Kelly, who have spent time researching health care coverage and purchasing plans that their families can afford. Despite the president’s late announcement that insurance companies could continue to offer those plans, many states and insurers are rejecting his “fix” because premium rates for next year have already been negotiated. The very law intended to make health care affordable for Kelly and her family has seemingly made it unattainable. Linda, also from East Tennessee, says she hasn’t lost her insurance, but her premiums have doubled because of the president’s health care law.

Barbara also lives in the First District. She is 58 years old and has a catastrophic plan with a $5,000 deductible. Barbara said she is angry that she’s being forced to purchase insurance that requires her to carry coverage she doesn’t need, like maternity, pediatric dental and substance abuse treatment. I share Barbara’s frustration, as the minimum coverage requirements have forced my wife and me to purchase a policy under Obamacare with these same protections, despite being at a time in our lives when we will not have more children.

Lisa’s company is still offering employer-sponsored insurance, but her cap on out-of-pocket expenses has gone up to $4,500 with a $1,300 deductible and 20 percent copay. In 2012, Lisa’s deductible was $700 and her co-pay was 20 percent. Quentin also gets insurance through his employer, but his premiums have doubled because of Obamacare. He’s now paying $137 a month for the same high-deductible, health savings account plan he used to pay $55 for.

These are just a few of the many stories I’ve heard from East Tennesseans about their struggles because of this health care law. The president claims the law is working and that Republicans opposed to the law have already convinced themselves the law has failed simply because they want it to fail. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is that the law isn’t working for most residents of the First District. President Obama advised those opposed to his law to check with those across the country the law is helping, but I’d advise the president to check with East Tennesseans like Kelly, Linda, Barbara, Lisa and Quentin. We owe it to them, and to the millions of Americans across the country who have lost their insurance plans, who can no longer see their doctor and who have seen their premiums skyrocket, to find a better way to reform health care in this country. I believe this so strongly that I wrote a market-based, patient-centered health care reform bill, the American Health Care Reform Act.

No one is talking about returning to the status quo before Obamacare. The health care system in this country was broken before Obamacare, and the truth is, it still is. Obamacare isn’t working, and that’s not a party-line talking point, that’s a fact. And as long as I hear from Tennesseans who struggling because of this law, I will continue to fight against it. There is an answer to our country’s health care problems, but Obamacare isn’t it.