By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur held an information session on Thursday, October 9, at Nexus Health Care to discuss the ongoing government shutdown and to explain why the Democratic Party is insistent on ensuring that any deal on a continuing resolution to fund the government includes funding for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies.
“We are in suspended animation now,” said Kaptur of the current impasse that began on October 1. “Health insurance is going to become unaffordable on November 1,” she added because of the impact of the recently passed provisions in the Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump insisted congressional Republicans pass.
“This is a life and death issue for us here in Ohio, Kaptur added noting that about 500,000 Ohioans have health insurance though the ACA and that the BBB will cause premiums to rise so dramatically that many will not be able to keep that insurance.
According to Americans Covered, under the GOP budget, premiums would more than double for Ohioans if the ACA Enhanced Premium Tax Credit expire. For a family of four earning $64,000, the current annual premium of $788 will rise to $2,571. For a senior couple earning $82,800 a year, the annual premium, currently $4,464, will be $15,000 under the GOP budget.
Keep Americans Covered is a coalition of the health care community, representing patients, consumers, doctors, hospitals, health insurers and employers in an effort to keep health care affordable for Americans
The Trump-backed BBB, said Kaptur, was designed to be “the biggest transfer of wealth from the American people to the superrich in the history of our country.”
Kaptur noted that she does not believe that the members of Congress cannot solve the problem themselves. “The [Republican] members of Congress will not defy [Trump].”
She believes that the only solution is for the four congressional leaders – Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Republicans Sen. John Thune and Rep. Mike Johnson – to get together with Trump so that Trump himself can keep the funding for the ACA alive.
If funding for the ACA is not continued, Kaptur foresees dire circumstances for the nation. “There is nothing to replace the Affordable Care Act … emergency rooms will be overcrowded with very stressed hospitals.” Especially hard hit will be people and hospitals in rural areas, she said. Already two rural hospitals in her district have been forced to close.
Dr. Johnathan Ross, a now-retired internal medicine specialist, spoke about the impact of the GOP budget on those who will not be able to afford the pricier premiums.
“This budget is immoral … tens of millions will lose coverage,” said Dr. Ross. “People will get sick, come to care late and will die. This is a moral failure; we are failing morally as a nation.”
Dr. Ross opined that the “ACA was almost miraculous” in the coverage it has provided to so many citizens but with the new budget much of that protection will disappear for so many. He also said that the ACA actually has helped to grow the economy as it has provided a way for small business owners to offer protection for staff. Those businesses, he added, will be in jeopardy of collapsing due to the additional operating costs.
“This budget says about us as a country – that we will sacrifice the poor so that the wealthy can get a tax cut,” he said.
Also lending his voice to the concern about the impact of the BBB on citizens was Dr. Anthony Pattin, PharmD, who has opened the Junction Family Pharmacy during the last year.
“These are people’s lives,” said Dr. Pattin of his clients. “I can’t imagine more people losing their insurance … this will be costly for all of us.”