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A doctor-turned-House Republican is arguing that there is a direct link between the Affordable Care Act (ACA), colloquially known as Obamacare, and the increasing cost of healthcare putting a strain on Americans’ wallets.
“They removed choice by patients by limiting and prohibiting association health plans, so small businesses were disadvantaged,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa.
“They had mandates for how the rating for insurance companies can go — they had mandated essential benefits, so people that are young and healthy and may not want a lot of healthcare, they just want it for catastrophic, couldn’t get just catastrophic coverage, so there was no choice in what benefits you had.”
Miller-Meeks said it led to people having to pay for their health premiums but not being able to afford the deductible to actually go see a doctor — in other words, “You can have insurance, but not care.”
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She said costs were also driven up by “simple things such as prohibiting doctors from doing things in their office, but paying a hospital more, which led to the development of hospital outpatient clinics.”
“Well, they paid the hospitals more to do it, so you weren’t having [a simple procedure] done at a doctor’s office…it was done at the hospital. So there are many things within the unaffordable care act that drove up healthcare costs,” she explained.
Miller-Meeks is leading the House GOP’s “Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act,” a bill that House Republican leaders say is aimed at lowering healthcare costs for a broader swath of the country than simply extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.
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It’s set to be voted on in the early evening on Wednesday, when it’s expected to pass roughly along party lines.
The plan as-is includes provisions to codify association health plans, which allow small businesses and people who are self-employed to band together to purchase healthcare coverage plans, giving them access to greater bargaining power.
Republicans also plan to appropriate funding for cost-sharing reductions beginning in 2027, which are designed to lower out-of-pocket medical costs in the individual healthcare market. House GOP leadership aides said it would bring down the cost of premiums by 12%.
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New transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are also in the legislation, aimed at forcing PBMs to be more upfront about costs to employers.
PBMs are third parties that act as intermediaries between pharmaceutical companies and those responsible for insurance coverage, often responsible for administrative tasks and negotiating drug prices.
“What’s important about this bill is that Republicans want to reduce healthcare costs for everyone, for all people, not just a select few. And we certainly don’t want to continue the corporate gravy train of subsidies to insurance companies, which then have no incentive to lower premiums,” Miller-Meeks said.
She said its various facets “will reduce premiums by 11%.”
“So it gives patients more choice, it allows more flexibility in what kind of insurance coverage they have, but most importantly, it’s the first bill to actually bring down premiums,” Miller-Meeks said.
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