WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) joined Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) to discuss the problems of Obamacare, including its impact on low-wage workers and small businesses, its high deductibles, failing co-ops and fewer choices for patients. The Senators shared stories of how Obamacare has impacted their states.
Watch the video here and read excerpts from the narratives below:
In Baton Rouge, A Worker Said, “My First Employer Reduced My Hours So Now I Have Had To Take A Second Job To Make Ends Meet.”
SEN. ALEXANDER: …One of the newer members of the Health Committee brings a lot of expertise, Senator Cassidy from Louisiana… Senator Cassidy, you had an article in Forbes magazine in 2014 that pointed out the impact of the 30-hour workweek in Obamacare and how that was hurting working families.
SEN. CASSIDY: One of the ironies of this is that it was promoted as a way to help lower income families make ends meet, but if you require employers to provide insurance to low wage workers, the predictable response of an employer who has thin margins is, to actually convert those full-time workers to part-time workers. Now, this doesn’t happen for the CEO or for the CEO’s lieutenants. It doesn’t happen for middle management. The folks it happens most for are those lower paid workers.
CASSIDY: I once went grocery shopping in Baton Rouge and a woman rung me up. The next day my wife sent me to another store to get something else at another store. The same woman was ringing me up. I said well, I just saw you at this store, but now I see you at this store. She says, “My first employer reduced my hours so now I have had to take a second job to make ends meet.” Now that’s the personal story, but what the labor statistics show is that since the recession has technically ended, the hours worked per week have recovered for higher-income workers but it is for the lower-income worker they’ve continued to suffer. The most vulnerable has been the most affected in terms of hours worked. But it’s not just the most vulnerable affected by this, it’s the middle class…
In Houma, An Insurance Policy Had Previously Been $207 Per Month, Was Going Up In 2016 To $961 Per Month—What Was Roughly $2,400 A Year, Is Going Up To $11,500 A Year
CASSIDY: The New York Times wrote an article this past week or two weeks ago—the headline says it all, “Many say high deductibles make their health law insurance all but useless.” And they quote a gentleman… 60 years old… He says the deductible, $3,000 a year, makes it impossible to actually go to the doctor. We have insurance but can’t afford to use it. And so it’s the middle-income worker who has also had a policy which previously would allow him or her to go to the doctor, now they can’t because the way that Obamacare is so structured is that it is too expensive, that out-of-pocket first exposure.
ALEXANDER What you’re saying, if I hear you right, that in the worse of circumstances, the effect of Obamacare on some of the people you talk with means they’re working fewer hours, so they have less money, their insurance premium is higher and so is their deductible. That’s the effect?
CASSIDY: In terms of insurance premiums, you can’t make this up. This is a fellow from Houma, Louisiana… And this is his letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana to inform him that his policy, which had previously been $207 per month, was going up in 2016 to $961 per month. His policy has been roughly $2,400 a year, is going up to $11,500 a year and this is because of the affordable—the unaffordable care act…
Tina Had A Hysterectomy, Is 56 Years Old And Has No Children, But Is Paying $500 More A Month For Pediatric Dentistry And Obstetrical Services
ALEXANDER: Senator Cassidy of course has a unique perspective on this as a practicing physician. I think he still practices some, as much as he can within the Senate rules, but he sees patients regularly. What was the effect of this new health care law 5 1/2 years ago on the ability of patients to choose their own physicians?
CASSIDY: Well, the way that the market has responded in order to make insurance affordable, despite the mandates, is there’s so-called narrow networks. And so someone signs for up the most affordable policy that they can get. Turns out their doctor, who they previously saw, is not on this plan. And so the narrow network is going to be just a small set of doctors. The specialist may be in another town. One hospital, not all hospitals, and patients were unfamiliar with this. They did not expect it, but that was their only affordable option. The mandates have driven up the costs so much…
CASSIDY: In my recent campaign, I had a woman walk up to me, and she goes, my name is Tina and I’m angry. I’ve had a hysterectomy, I’m 56 years old, and I have no children. My husband and I are paying $500 more a month for insurance, which we cannot afford, and I’m paying for pediatric dentistry, and I’m paying for obstetrical services…
Taxes Are Straining A Medical Device Start Up Company In New Orleans, Struggling To Grow Jobs In The U.S.
CASSIDY: There’s a fellow who started a medical device start-up in New Orleans. And he was saying that he has been offered to move his business to Panama because a major portion of his market is overseas. And so the medical device tax is, of course, a tax upon the gross of a business. If he moves overseas to Panama, taking those jobs with him, and he continues to sell internationally, not pay tax on that, but only tax on that which he brings back to the United States, well, then he’s obviously reducing his tax burden. Those are high-paying, white-collar jobs in New Orleans, a city recovering from Katrina, and if the power to tax is the power to destroy, this tax has the power to destroy the ability of this gentleman to continue to expand in New Orleans.
Louisiana’s Co-Op Failed At Taxpayers’ Expense
CASSIDY: Louisiana’s co-op failed. It attempted to lower costs with a skinny network, but ultimately it still could not compete. If I may kind of point out, we’ve talked about how the low-wage worker has had her opportunities diminished by this law. We’ve discussed how the middle-class family, oftentimes having insurance they were told they could keep, lost it and now they have deductibles of $3,000 which they will say makes the insurance something they cannot afford. And now we’re speaking about the U.S. taxpayer. The U.S. taxpayer, who has put billions towards these co-ops. There is some evidence the administration continued to put money into them even when they knew that they were going to fail and yet now they are failing. Over half. And supposedly more slated to do so. So it isn’t just the low-wage worker, the middle-class family, it is all of us taxpayers who have taken a hit for promises made with promises broken.
CASSIDY: Louisiana’s co-op failed. It attempted to lower costs with a skinny network, but ultimately it still could not compete. If I may kind of point out, we’ve talked about how the low-wage worker has had her opportunities diminished by this law. We’ve discussed how the middle-class family, oftentimes having insurance they were told they could keep, lost it and now they have deductibles of $3,000 which they will say makes the insurance something they cannot afford. And now we’re speaking about the U.S. taxpayer. The U.S. taxpayer, who has put billions towards these co-ops. There is some evidence the administration continued to put money into them even when they knew that they were going to fail and yet now they are failing. Over half. And supposedly more slated to do so. So it isn’t just the low-wage worker, the middle-class family, it is all of us taxpayers who have taken a hit for promises made with promises broken.
CASSIDY: Louisiana’s co-op failed. It attempted to lower costs with a skinny network, but ultimately it still could not compete. If I may kind of point out, we’ve talked about how the low-wage worker has had her opportunities diminished by this law. We’ve discussed how the middle-class family, oftentimes having insurance they were told they could keep, lost it and now they have deductibles of $3,000 which they will say makes the insurance something they cannot afford. And now we’re speaking about the U.S. taxpayer. The U.S. taxpayer, who has put billions towards these co-ops. There is some evidence the administration continued to put money into them even when they knew that they were going to fail and yet now they are failing. Over half. And supposedly more slated to do so. So it isn’t just the low-wage worker, the middle-class family, it is all of us taxpayers who have taken a hit for promises made with promises broken.
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