Article courtesy of MIRS News
The health insurance portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) “has not worked,” Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday, noting that access is being reduced and insurance rates are going up because of the federal law.
Returning to Michigan after a four-day trip to the National Governors’ Association (NGA) winter conference in Washington D.C., Snyder talked up “Healthy Michigan” — the state’s version of the expanded Medicaid portion of the ACA — as “one of the best health care successes in the nation.”
For these reasons, Snyder wrote in a statement Tuesday that “it’s imperative with reform of the ACA that we are able to keep Healthy Michigan going with more flexibility in administering our state program, while at the same time bringing stability to the insurance marketplace.”
The Governor also reported that “now more than ever,” Washington D.C. is listening to the states. He said he’s hopeful he’ll see a “great deal of collaboration” with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, the cabinet and the Republican-led Congress.
Speaking to Congress Tuesday night, Trump said Governors “should have flexibility with Medicaid” to make sure “no one is left out,” but he didn’t elaborate.
On the issue of repealing and replacing the ACA, he said those with pre-existing conditions should have access to coverage, that tax cuts and health savings accounts should be used to help Americans purchase insurance, drug prices need to be brought down and health insurance should be purchased across state lines.
Trump said Tuesday that mandating every American to buy government-approved health care was never the “right solution.” Rather he will be pushing for a lower-cost option to prevent this “imploding Obamacare disaster.”
“Action is not a choice. It is a necessity,” Trump said.
The issue Congressman Sandy Levin (D-Royal Oak) sees is that neither Trump nor the Republican-led Congress have issued a replacement proposal in the past seven years that doesn’t “rip away health coverage from millions of Americans.”
As Trump addressed Congress Tuesday night, Levin brought with him Lindsay Helfman of Hazel Park, who he says is “one of the millions of Americans who have been helped by the ACA.”
“Telling someone with cancer that they should depend on a health savings account for their treatment is not a rescue, it’s a cruel hoax,” Levin said. “Cutting federal support for Medicaid is not a repair, it’s denying assistance to those needing health care.”