Obamacare remains unaffordable for some. But Congress doesn't plan on fixing it.

[DonViejo]

By Paige Winfield Cunningham

Paige Winfield Cunningham
National reporter focused on health-care policy

March 5 at 7:41 AM

Obamacare plans remain too expensive for some Americans — particularly those who are older and earn moderate income. But don’t expect Congress to do much about it.

For all the lip service lawmakers still pay to improving the Affordable Care Act, there’s little path forward this year for any bipartisan legislation to improve the affordability of plans offered through a law that remains sharply divisive nearly a decade after Congress passed it.

Moderate House Democrats trying to counter the Medicare-for-all push from liberals say they’re focusing on ACA fixes as a pragmatic, bipartisan way forward. But so far they’ve not advanced any such measures that have GOP buy-in, even as they prepare for another ACA-themed hearing tomorrow morning in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health subcommittee.

As for congressional Republicans, they’re publicly admitting they’ve pretty much moved on from Obamacare and any effort to improve, weaken or otherwise change it.

“I think there’s a little bit of once burned, why are we going at it again?" Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told reporters Thursday.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-health-202/2019/03/05/the-health-202-obamacare-remains-unaffordable-for-some-but-congress-doesn-t-plan-on-fixing-it/5c7d6e291b326b2d177d5fbf/

[ooky]

1. The House should go ahead anyway and pass some good fixes to the ACA and get them on

the table as legislation. Then let the people decide if they want improvements to the ACA in 2020. I'm betting that the people who voted Democrats into the House majority in 2018 would like to hear about some ACA improvements which would lower their costs.

We already know that Republicans don't care about fixing anything because if they did they would have already done it.

[area51]

2. One of many reasons why

we need single-payer/comprehensive Medicare for All. Please contact Speaker Pelosi and your rep.