By Jonathan Phelps | October 21, 2020
Kathleen Sebelius, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, says Republicans, in their quest to have Obamacare overturned by the Supreme Court, have no plan to replace it.
“They have no way to protect people with pre-existing conditions,” she said during a virtual press conference Wednesday morning. “They all say they do. They lie about it.”
The press conference was hosted by Protect Our Care New Hampshire, an advocacy group to stop “the relentless Republican war on the Affordable Care Act and America’s health care system” to bring attention to open enrollment, which opens on Nov. 1.
The six-week open enrollment for ACA runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15. New Hampshire residents can choose from three health insurance companies.
Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who are all seeking reelection, want to keep the Affordable Care Act in force. Their opponents, Steve Negron, Matt Mowers and Bryant “Corky” Messner, all want to repeal the law, though they support some of the consumer protection regulations contained in it.
“In my view, it’s unconscionable that President Trump and the Republican party are still fighting to repeal the Affordable Care Act even in the midst of the worst public health crises in modern history,” Kuster said during the press conference.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Negron said “the incompetence of Kuster’s health care fix has led to an immoral increase in everyday health care costs, such as life-saving EpiPens for children that increased by almost 1,000% under the ACA. We can do better.”
Stephen Stepanek, New Hampshire’s GOP chairman, did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story.
The reform is best known for requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions.
Dr. Marie-Elizabeth Ramas, a family physician activist from Nashua, said pre-existing conditions included women of childbearing age and patients with high blood pressure or diabetes.
She spoke of earlier in her career when pap smear, mammograms, colonoscopies and other prevention procedures weren’t covered under many insurance plans.
“You would have to pay out of pocket to get care that we know saves lives,” she said.
Many people without coverage would end up in the emergency room, she said.
“Do we want to go back to a time where something like COVID could count as a pre-existing condition?” she said.
Sebelius warned a repeal of the ACA would create a budget crisis in New Hampshire because of the lack of federal funds.
“It doesn’t take away people’s health needs. It just takes away the resources for those individuals to pay their bills,” she said. “It will be a crisis for hospitals, a crisis for health care providers and crisis for individual patients.”
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who is not up for re-election this year, said health care has never been more important and she continues to fight against Republican efforts to undermine the ACA and rush the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
“This is a last gasp by Senate Republicans to make sure they have a Supreme Court that will overturn the ACA,” Hassan said. “That would be devastating at any time but particularly devastating right now.” We should be focused right now as the Senate to come together and work across the aisle to put together a comprehensive COVID relief package.”
Union Leader Staff Reporter Josie Albertson-Grove contributed to this report.