SCHIP

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009

hmoroz — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:12:07 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of uninsured Americans in 2008: 45.7 million

Estimated number of uninsured Americans after passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act: 23 million

Percentage growth in the uninsured between 2004 and 2007 that came from lower- and middle-income families: 70

Average annual worker contribution to health insurance premiums in employer-sponsored coverage in 1999: $1,543

Average annual worker contribution to health insurance premiums in employer-sponsored coverage in 2009: $3,515

Savings on premiums to a low-income family from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because they do not have to buy private, nongroup insurance: $10,076

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Access to health care is a critical component of a middle-class standard of living. Skyrocketing health care costs have created a vicious and destabilizing trap for middle-class Americans in which employer-sponsored coverage is offered less frequently and private coverage is increasingly unaffordable. Meanwhile, successful public programs that effectively cover children (SCHIP), the poor (Medicaid), and the elderly (Medicare) are unavailable to middle-class adults. Almost 46 million nonelderly Americans lack health insurance, the majority of whom are low- and middle-income, and the rate of the uninsured has grown significantly since 2000. At the same time, the average worker’s health care premium has increased 128% (to $3,515) since 1999. One study even found that just shy of two thirds of all bankruptcies are due to medical expenses even though the vast majority of these bankruptcies involve families who have health insurance. Because employers, too, have had to absorb similar premium increases, employer-sponsored insurance – the type of insurance most middle-class Americans obtain – has declined significantly in each of the last eight years. The economic downturn has exacerbated this situation and experts estimate that each percentage point increase in the unemployment rate results in substantial increases in the number of uninsured Americans. Given the high costs of obtaining insurance in the private, non-group market, which is nearly impossible without steady employment, many Americans have simply given up coverage over the last several years. In short, a perfect storm of increasing health care costs and a down economy has undermined the financial stability and endangered the wellbeing of the middle class and the aspiring middle class.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would do much to relieve the financial stress placed on these households by high health insurance costs while also extending health coverage to millions of Americans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would reduce the number of uninsured to 23 million, leaving just 6 percent of the population without health coverage. Expanding Medicaid to cover low-income adults is one of the most effective and cost-efficient means of covering more aspiring middle-class Americans. The expansion would enroll about 15 million individuals in Medicaid, providing an important public backstop for aspiring middle-class families. Indeed, public programs have successfully kept millions of children from becoming uninsured, while the lack of such programs for low-income childless adults has led to increased numbers of the uninsured among this population. Similarly, subsidized coverage in the Health Benefits Exchanges would reduce health care costs for tens of millions of households. Premium savings could be as high as $10,000 for a low-income household of four. Such savings are targeted at the very groups that need the most help.

At the same time as it helps reduce health care costs for middle-class and aspiring middle-class Americans, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act greatly improves health coverage by enacting strict requirements for the type of insurance that is offered. The bill prevents the nightmare scenarios of being denied coverage just because you have become sick or being forced to pay higher premiums because of a preexisting condition (in many policies, being a woman is effectively considered a preexisting condition). Eventually, it will define minimum benefits and cost limits that must be included in most health insurance plans, not just ones offered by the Health Benefits Exchanges. And it will ensure that health insurers do not use premiums to pay for administrative costs and profits, instead of medical care. In this way, affordable and adequate health insurance that protects individuals and their families during both normal medical events and extraordinary medical hardship will be available to all aspiring middle-class and middle-class households.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Health Reform,” from the Kaiser Family Foundation

“The Treatment,” A Health Care Reform Blog from The New Republic

“Competitive Health Care: A Public Health Insurance Plan That Delivers Market Discipline,” from the Center for American Progress Action Fund

Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009

hmoroz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:04:32 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of uninsured Americans in 2008: 45.7 million

Estimated number of uninsured Americans after passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act: 18 million

Percentage growth in the uninsured between 2004 and 2007 that came from lower- and middle-income families: 70

Average annual worker contribution to health insurance premiums in employer-sponsored coverage in 1999: $1,543

Average annual worker contribution to health insurance premiums in employer-sponsored coverage in 2009: $3,515

Savings to a low-income family and a higher-income family, respectively, from the Affordable Health Care for America Act because they do not have to buy private, nongroup insurance: $9,000, $1,260

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Middle Class Supports. Skyrocketing health care costs have created a vicious and destabilizing trap for middle-class Americans in which employer-sponsored coverage is offered less frequently and private coverage is increasingly unaffordable. Meanwhile, successful public programs that effectively cover children (SCHIP), the poor (Medicaid), and the elderly (Medicare) are unavailable to middle-class adults. Almost 46 million nonelderly Americans lack health insurance, the majority of whom are low- and middle-income, and the rate of the uninsured has grown significantly since 2000. At the same time, the average worker’s health care premium has increased 128% (to $3,515) since 1999. One study has even found that just shy of two thirds of all bankruptcies are due to medical expenses even though the vast majority of these bankruptcies involve families who have health insurance. Because employers, too, have had to absorb similar premium increases, employer-sponsored insurance – the type of insurance most middle-class Americans obtain – has declined significantly in each of the last eight years. The economic downturn has exacerbated this situation and experts estimate that each percentage point increase in the unemployment rate results in substantial increases in the number of uninsured Americans. Given the high costs of obtaining insurance in the private, non-group market, which is nearly impossible without steady employment, many Americans have simply given up coverage over the last several years. In short, a perfect storm of increasing health care costs and a down economy has undermined the financial stability and endangered the wellbeing of the middle class and the aspiring middle class.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act would do much to relieve the financial stress placed on these households by high health insurance costs while also extending health coverage to millions of Americans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reckons that the bill would reduce the number of uninsured to 18 million, leaving just 4 percent of the population without health coverage. Expanding Medicaid to cover low-income adults is one of the most effective and cost-efficient means of covering more aspiring middle-class Americans. The expansion would enroll about 15 million individuals in Medicaid, providing an important public backstop for low-income families. Indeed, public programs have successfully kept millions of children from becoming uninsured, while the lack of such programs for low-income childless adults has led to increased numbers of the uninsured among this population. Similarly, coverage in the Health Insurance Exchange would reduce health care costs for tens of millions of households: the savings range from more than $9,000 for a low-income household of four which receives payment assistance to $1,260 for a higher-income family making more than $90,000 that does not receive such assistance. Such savings are targeted at the very groups that need the most help. The inclusion of a public option in the Exchange, in which a relatively meager 6 million individuals are expected to enroll, will create competition with the Exchange’s private insurance plans driving costs even lower.

At the same time as it helps reduce health care costs for middle-class and aspiring middle-class Americans, the Affordable Health Care for America Act greatly improves health coverage by enacting strict requirements for the type of insurance that is offered. The bill prevents the nightmare scenarios of being denied coverage just because you have become sick or being forced to pay higher premiums because of a preexisting condition (in many policies, being a woman is effectively considered a preexisting condition). Eventually, it will define minimum benefits and cost limits that must be included in all health insurance plans, not just ones offered by the Health Insurance Exchange. And it will ensure that health insurers do not use premiums to pay for administrative costs and profits, instead of medical care. In this way, affordable and adequate health insurance that protects individuals and their families during both normal medical events and extraordinary medical hardship will be available to all aspiring middle-class and middle-class households.

Finally, the Act contains cost-cutting strategies to reduce the impact of health care costs on the budget deficit and additional measures to reorient health care delivery to quality, preventive care and away from costly and unnecessary overtreatment. Eliminating overpayments to Medicare Advantage, the ill-advised, Bush-era privatization of a chunk of Medicare, and empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate Medicare drug prices are effective ways to cut costs without weakening coverage. The tax surcharge on the wealthiest Americans, who benefited most from the economic growth of the 2000s and who are weathering the current economic downturn best, is a sensible method of increasing access to and the affordability of health insurance coverage in a fiscally responsible manner.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Health Reform,” from the Kaiser Family Foundation

“House Health Reform Bill Expands Coverage And Lowers Health Cost Growth, While Reducing Deficits,” from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

“Competitive Health Care: A Public Health Insurance Plan That Delivers Market Discipline,” from the Center for American Progress Action Fund

“The Treatment,” A Health Care Reform Blog from The New Republic

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2008 [Revised Bill]

hmoroz — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:31:35 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of children who would have health care coverage by 2012 if this legislation passes who would otherwise be uninsured: 3.9 million

Increase in the number of uninsured children between 2005 and 2006: 611,000

Percentage of uninsured children who saw a doctor for a medical check up, emergency care, or any other reason during the previous year: 51

Percentage of insured children who saw a doctor in that time: 76

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports. SCHIP has been highly successful at reducing the number of uninsured children, but a lack of funding has limited its reach, leaving 9 million American children uninsured in 2006. The shortfall has consequences, not only for children’s individual health and well-being, but for society as a whole, which bears the cost of preventable emergency room visits from children who never got preventive care. By renewing SCHIP and expanding it to more low- and middle-income children, this bill offers children a healthy start in life.

Steeply rising costs over the past several years have made health coverage unaffordable, not only for the poor, but also for a growing number of middle-class families. Since 2000, the premium that the average American employee pays for health coverage has risen more than 83 percent, increasing more than four times faster than wages. At the same time, more employers are dropping insurance plans entirely, and coverage is even more expensive for Americans who must purchase it themselves on the open market. Being able to take a child to the doctor for regular check-ups and immunizations is fundamental to a middle-class standard of living.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Health Policy page, with an SCHIP subsection

“Foundation Resources on the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Debate on Its Reauthorization,” from the Kaiser Family Foundation

“SCHIP 101:What Is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and How Does It Work?” from Families USA

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009

hmoroz — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:23:29 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of children uninsured in 2007: 8,149,000

Percentage of all children who are uninsured: 11.0

Percentage of children in poverty who are uninsured: 17.6

Percentage of uninsured children with no usual place of care: 32

Percentage of children with private coverage and Medicaid or other public coverage with no usual place of care, respectively: 3, 4

Number of children who would otherwise be uninsured by 2013 without this legislation: 4.1 million

Percentage of additional children who would gain SCHIP or Medicaid coverage under the legislation who would otherwise be insured with private coverage at some time before 2013, as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office: 37

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports. Being able to take a child to the doctor for regular check-ups and immunizations is fundamental to a middle-class standard of living. This legislation would put that middle-class building block within the reach of more Americans. Though 8 million children are currently uninsured, SCHIP has been highly successful at shrinking the number of uninsured low-income children, helping reduce the uninsured rate by about one third between 1997 and 2005. However, as employer-provided coverage has declined – only 60% of U.S. companies offered health insurance in 2007 compared to 69% in 2000 – and as premiums rise – premiums have increased 78% since 2001 and health care coverage costs have outpaced increases in wages more than 3 to 1 since 2000 – children are increasingly at risk of going without insurance, especially during a recession in which the ranks of the unemployed have grown by 3.6 million people.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the legislation’s increased funding would enroll in SCHIP 1.6 million children who would otherwise be unenrolled and uninsured, would prevent 1.8 million children from losing their coverage, and would enroll about 700,000 children newly eligible for coverage under the bill’s broadened enrollment criteria. Expansion of SCHIP is crucial to ensuring that more children, particularly of the aspiring middle class, do not fall into the ranks of the uninsured as the economy worsens and states cut important programs in the face of severe budget crises. Indeed, 22 states have already implemented or are considering cuts that will affect low-income children’s or families’ access to health insurance.

Underfunding SCHIP has consequences, not only for children’s individual health and well-being, but for society as a whole, which bears the cost of preventable emergency room visits from children who never received preventive care. By renewing SCHIP and expanding it to more low- and middle-income children, this bill offers children a healthy start in life.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

“Child Health Insurance Research Initiative,” from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

“Medicaid/SCHIP,” from the Kaiser Family Foundation

“Improving Children’s Health: A Chartbook about the Roles of Medicaid and SCHIP,” from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 [Revised bill]

atraub — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:08:54 -0500

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of children who would have health care coverage by 2012 if this legislation passes who would otherwise be uninsured: 3.9 million

Increase in the number of uninsured children between 2005 and 2006: 611,000

Percentage of uninsured children who saw a doctor for a medical check up, emergency care, or any other reason during the previous year: 51

Percentage of insured children who saw a doctor in that time: 76

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Health Policy page, with an SCHIP subsection

“Foundation Resources on the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Debate on Its Reauthorization,” from the Kaiser Family Foundation

“SCHIP 101:What Is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and How Does It Work?” from Families USA

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007

atraub — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:16:52 -0400

Legislation

The middle class

Supports

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Number of children who would have health care coverage by 2012 if this legislation passes who would otherwise be uninsured: 3.8 million

Increase in the number of uninsured children between 2005 and 2006: 611,000

Percentage of uninsured children who saw a doctor for a medical check up, emergency care, or any other reason during the previous year: 51

Percentage of insured children who saw a doctor in that time: 76

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

The Middle Class Supports: SCHIP has been highly successful at reducing the number of uninsured children, but a lack of funding has limited its reach, leaving 9 million American children uninsured in 2006. The shortfall has consequences, not only for children’s individual health and well-being, but for society as a whole, which bears the cost of preventable emergency room visits from children who never got preventive care. By renewing SCHIP and expanding it to more low- and middle-income children, this bill offers children a healthy start in life.

Quotes from Experts

Beyond this Bill

Additional Resources

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Health Policy page, with an SCHIP subsection

“Foundation Resources on the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Debate on Its Reauthorization,” from the Kaiser Family Foundation

“SCHIP 101:What Is the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and How Does It Work?” from Families USA

SCHIP

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

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Additional Resources

Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

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Additional Resources

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2008 [Revised Bill]

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 [Revised bill]

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007

Legislation

The middle class

Video Summary

Injustice Facts

Overview/Summary

Middle Class Position Analysis

Related Blog: Header

Quotes from Experts

Related Blog: Text

Beyond this Bill

Related Blog: Link

Additional Resources