Friday, March 24, 2017

RyanCare includes Subsidies for Illegals

Obamacare 2.0: Paul Ryan’s ACA Replacement Does Not Remove Subsidies for Illegal Immigrant Healthcare, by Heidi Hecht, 3/23/17

A last-minute amendment to Paul Ryan’s proposed replacement for Obamacare could leave taxpayers on the hook for health care provided to illegal aliens. Conservatives who have kept track of proceedings related to Republican attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act are now asking voters to contact members of Congress to ask them to oppose specific changes outlined in a document titled “Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations Relating to Repeal and Replace of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” as soon as possible to make sure that this and any other potentially harmful amendments to the replacement bill do not pass.

Paul Ryan’s ACA Replacement Does Not Remove Subsidies for Illegal Immigrant Healthcare If the bill passes, Forbes estimates that taxpayers could be forced to continue paying as much as $6.5 billion dollars per year to support heath care costs for illegal immigrants. Not even Forbes was able to track the entire amount, though, because sanctuary cities that protect illegals refuse to release the data on how much money is being used for this purpose.

Conservatives observers give credit to Congressman Lou Barletta (R-PA) for revealing this harmful amendment as she says that as many as 500,000 illegal immigrants have received Obamacare subsidies and passed the bill to American taxpayers.

This bill also fails to scuttle other harmful components of Obamacare such as a refusal to allow health insurance companies to compete across state lines, which limits the amount of choices that consumers in each state have when shopping for health insurance. This creates effective insurance oligarchies in each state that can set both health insurance premiums and deductible higher than they would have been otherwise.

The bill also fails to address concerns about “death panels” that can ration health care coverage to the detriment of the elderly and individuals with chronic and serious illnesses.

Some physicians are taking the reins and choosing to ditch insurance altogether. This includes a group of doctors in Maine who hope to replace monthly insurance premiums with a monthly subscription to their respective clinics. The benefits of a monthly subscription include a predictable income for doctors who worry that their patients might skip a checkup because they can’t afford the copay.

With a plan like this, no one needs to worry that a claim will be rejected because a clerk mistakenly entered the wrong code when filing the claim. Patients also say that the cost per person – which can run as low as $50 a month – actually saves them money compared to what they would have paid with an Obamacare plan. Some physicians that offer a monthly subscription plan will even go out of their way to find specialists that will accept cash when they need to refer a patient.

However, there is continued concern among patients who rely on insurance to help with health care costs. They worry that Obamacare will not be fully repealed, leaving regulations that could force taxpayers to foot the bill for illegal immigrants and hope that “death panels” won’t ration treatments that they need to manage serious chronic illnesses. A monthly clinic subscription could catch on as a concept, but only if government regulators and Obamacare supporters get out of the way and make such a thing the most cost-effective option for both clinics and patients.

If Paul Ryan’s team has its way, this bill could face a full vote as early as the afternoon of March 23. If the bill fails to pass, Congress will be forced to return to the drawing board to replace Obamacare, so anyone who wishes to contact their Senator or Representative on this matter should not waste any time calling or emailing them on this matter.




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