FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2014, 9:00 AM Contact: Kevin D. McGee, (907) 441-2137 Parnell & Legislators Play Politics With Alaskans’ Health: Hearings will address anything but the facts about health care in Alaska Anchorage: Legislators are holding two politically-motivated hearings on health care after Parnell blocked Medicaid expansion, denied health care to thousands of Alaskans, and caused insurance rates to go up. “Sean Parnell and his allies in the legislature are playing politics with people’s lives. By blocking Medicaid expansion and insurance rate review, he is denying health care to thousands of Alaskans while forcing much higher prices onto individuals with health care. It is hard to imagine a more reprehensible act than blocking health care to score political points,” said Kevin McGee, 1st Vice President and Chairman, Political Action Committee of the NAACP in Anchorage. Today’s hearing is consistent with ALEC and other Koch-funded groups’ systematic effort to sabotage health care across the country, an effort in which Parnell, his health commissioner Bill Steuer, and his highest-ranking staff were involved. Facts About Health Care Reform in Alaska KEY BENEFITS FOR ALASKANS: · 44,000 Alaskans with Medicare obtained free preventive health care in 2013 · More than 107,000 Alaska women obtained free preventive care because of the Affordable Care Act. · 13,000 Alaskans signed up for coverage through the federal marketplace, despite Parnell’s efforts to sabotage new health coverage by blocking Medicaid. · Since Walker has pledged to expand Medicaid, some 41,500 more Alaskans could obtain affordable health care if Walker ends up becoming governor. · The Affordable Care Act permanently authorizes the Indian Health Service, a longstanding goal of Alaska’s Congressional delegation. · 9,000 young Alaskans (under the age of 26) have obtained health care as a direct result of the ACA requirement that young adults be able to stay on their parents’ plans. · Alaska seniors have saved $7.7 million on prescription drugs through the Affordable Care Act. · Alaska seniors are saving an average of $831/person annually as the ACA is closing Medicare’s Part D prescription drug loophole. · More than 12,000 Alaskans have gotten rebates from insurance companies thanks to cost-containment measures in the ACA. · The ACA eliminates insurance companies’ abusive “lifetime limit” on care for some 240,000 Alaskans. COSTS: · Alaska could have reduced health insurance rates by accepting Medicaid expansion and improving rate review, either through straightforward acceptance of Medicaid funding or through a state-specific model like Arkansas’. · Rates were just officially announced in Arkansas today with a 2.2% reduction. Arkansas took a state-specific approach to Medicaid expansion. They are using the federal expansion dollars to allow the medicaid expansion population to buy private health insurance. This expands the individual market insurance risk pool. · Alaska has the bare-minimum insurance rate review, and the Parnell Administration denied Alaska Public Interest Research Group’s request to strengthen oversight. As a result, there is zero transparency into Parnell’s highest-in-the-nation rate hike. · The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to spend money on health care, not waste excessive amounts on bureaucracy. PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS: · Parnell and his allies joined a court case (to repeal the ACA) in support of insurance companies denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. · Prior to the Affordable Care Act, 34% of Alaskans were denied health coverage because of pre-existing conditions, which is a 50% higher rate than the national average. · Repealing the Affordable Care Act would allow insurance companies deny coverage or charge more to victims of domestic violence, which is sadly consistent with his callous refusal to address sexual assault in the National Guard. WOMEN’S HEALTH: · Repealing the Affordable Care Act would allow insurance companies to return to their old habits of charging women more than men for the same coverage. · The Affordable Care Act finally required insurance companies to cover contraception and maternity care. Repealing it would eliminate these key consumer protections. · More than 107,000 Alaska women obtained free preventive care because of the Affordable Care Act. BETTER BENEFITS: · The Affordable Care Act requires coverage of basic health care such as prevention, maternity care, hospitalization, and coverage of pre-existing conditions. · It prohibits insurance companies from cancelling coverage when patients get sick, an abusive practice known as “rescission.” ###
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