Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer lied: many New Yorkers did not get to keep their doctors, and their health care costs did not go down, and the quality has not gotten better.
We must repeal and replace the disaster that is Obamacare, which was enacted into law with Chuck Schumer’s deciding vote.
New York’s health insurers are seeking to raise premiums for Obamacare plans by an average of 17.3 percent in 2017. With three of the “big five” health insurers announcing major cuts to their Obamacare exchange business, with premiums and deductibles going through the roof, it’s clear that ObamaCare is not working. It has not stopped the massive increases in health insurance premiums, and it expands Medicaid, one of the clearest failed government programs in history.
We need to spur the creation of plans that offer consumers more choices and lower premiums. The principal problem with ObamaCare is its detailed federal mandate of care options, which drives up premium costs. I will work to broaden the range of insurance options available, particularly for young Americans.
Economic growth and job creation play an important role, too: if the economy performs better than it has over the last seven years, employers will create more jobs and be able better to afford health care plans for their workers.
We need to create affordable, accessible, quality healthcare for all. The only way to do this is to allow markets and competition to operate, and to empower doctors and patients, instead of the federal government. I would support any and all legislation that works toward these general goals:
- Repeal the ironically named Affordable Care Act.
- Eliminate restrictions on the interstate sale of health insurance to create a greater market and more competition and variety of health insurance products.
- Expand the availability of health savings accounts.
- Ensure there is no individual mandate in the new health law. Individuals should not be forced by the government to purchase health insurance nor penalized for failing to do so.
- Replace the current Medicaid system with block grants to the States, which can best determine how to make the most effective use of Medicaid funds to serve their low-income populations.
- Protect Medicare and Medicare Advantage for our current senior citizens and those approaching retirement age (55 and up). For future seniors, we must work to reform the way Medicare currently works by promoting more competition in the program, including private health insurance plans. We should also gradually raise the eligibility age to 67, as seniors are living 9 years longer on average than they did when the program was created in 1965. Seniors should be allowed to shop for insurance like everyone else, with means-tested premium support, defined contributions, or vouchers. Competition in a real marketplace would rein in Medicare’s runaway costs.
- End the astronomical prices and artificial shortages of generic prescription drugs created by vendor kickbacks and the lack of competition in the generic drug/healthcare supplies industry.
- Protect those with pre-existing conditions by requiring insurers to cover anyone who has had continuous coverage for the prior year without taking health status or history into consideration.
- Restore high-risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions who cannot find insurance in the conventional market, and keep those rates lower in the conventional market by removing the highest-cost people from the standard insurance pool.