In a letter last week, 12 Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee laid out their plans for healthcare, aiming to lower costs, make it easier to get insurance and address corporate greed.
The senators include ranking member of the committee, Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), as well as Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin).
The policies explained in the letter aim to achieve three main goals:
1. Reverse Republican cost increases: This past year, the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits expired. These lowered premiums for those receiving healthcare on the marketplaces, a policy that Democrats largely supported extending, while Republicans largely opposed. The expiration of the tax credits has led to premiums doubling on average.
The Democratic senators said they would like to reverse these cuts to health coverage. They would also like to expand pathways to coverage for low-income people, such as those in states that have not expanded Medicaid. In addition, they’d like to end junk insurance plans and eliminate surprise tax bills.
2. Make healthcare simpler: Many Americans struggle using their health insurance due to issues like provider network problems, denied claims and delayed care from administrative burdens, the letter explained.
The senators would like to set up a “one-stop shop” for coverage to make it easier to enroll in a plan, as well as standardize plans and benefits so consumers can make “apples-to-apples comparisons.”
3. Take on corporate greed: The senators said that Americans don’t want to be “nickeled and dimed or buried in red tape by the same companies that collect thousands of dollars in premiums from them each year.” They claimed that Republicans have ignored these calls.
The senators said they will develop policies that will ensure federal funds support quality care, and crack down on insurance industry practices that inflate costs and reduce competition. They noted that they’ll stop corporate insurance companies from making money by acting as “unaccountable middlemen” that delay care and deny claims.
The letter added that the senators will release more details on these policies in the coming weeks and months.
“The American people need relief from rising premiums and deductibles that are forcing families into financial ruin,” the senators said in the letter. “They also want an insurance system that doesn’t require them to jump through hoops and hack through red tape every time they need care, and they expect their elected officials to root out the business practices and middlemen that harm the very people that for-profit insurance companies receive billions in taxpayer funding to serve. Trump and Republicans have used their majority to increase Americans’ health care costs and put new barriers between families and the care they need. Democrats can enact reforms that put patients over profits and consumers over complexity.”
It’s worth noting that Republicans have also signaled that they’d like to address healthcare affordability, though they have different ideas for tackling this issue. Many are in favor of sending money directly to eligible Americans through their health savings account so they can purchase their own coverage, as detailed in Trump’s Great Healthcare Plan.
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