Response from Senator Casey [Obamacare]

Office of Senator Bob Casey ^ | April 2, 2015 | Senator Bob Casey

[Timber Rattler]

Dear XXXXXXX:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me about health insurance premiums and the Affordable Care Act. I appreciate hearing from you about this issue.

Over the next several years, the Affordable Care Act will extend health insurance coverage to an additional 30 million Americans, ensuring that 95 percent of our Nation has access to quality, affordable care. I recognize that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect, and that some changes may need to be made. However, I believe that this law reflects our Nation’s commitment to ensuring access to health care for all Americans.

One of the challenges that individuals face when they select a health care plan is that premium rates, benefits and the network of health providers can change on an annual basis. Such changes existed prior to the Affordable Care Act, and are often the result of state and local insurance markets and regulations. In any given case, premium increases for an existing health insurance plan may be previously scheduled, due to new projected expenses for that health insurance plan, due to provisions included in the Affordable Care Act or due to cost shifting on the part of an employer.

Recent changes to the health insurance market, including the launch of Pennsylvania’s health insurance marketplace at www.healthcare.gov, are expected to make it easier for individuals to shop around and compare health insurance options. By increasing competition, these marketplaces are helping to control costs and slow the rate of increase for health insurance premiums. If you already have health insurance through Pennsylvania’s Affordable Care Act marketplace and you are dissatisfied with your premium, you should log on to healthcare.gov during open enrollment to update your financial information and compare plans. New insurers and new plans have entered the marketplace, and you may find a better deal than your current coverage. Individuals with employer sp onsored health insurance may be eligible for a tax credit to help purchase a plan through the marketplace if their employer sponsored coverage is too expensive.

In addition to encouraging competition through the marketplaces, the Affordable Care Act puts in place several new layers of protections for consumers that will improve the stability and affordability of health coverage. These protections include regulating annual dollar limits on the care you can receive, abolishing lifetime limits on the amount of care you can receive, extending coverage to dependents, limits on out of pocket costs such as deductibles and co-pays, and a set of ten Essential Health Benefits that all health insurance plans must cover. Some health insurance companies may increase premiums or deductibles in response to the requirement that they meet the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections. However, these protections also ensure that all Pennsylvanians have access to the medical services they need, and reduce their chances of going bankrupt simply because they become ill.

Several provisions in the Affordable Care Act strengthen state and federal oversight of health insurance premiums and rate increases to ensure consumers receive value for the money they spend on health care. For example, the new law encourages states to strengthen their rate-review process and requires that insurance companies spend the vast majority (at least 80 percent, and in some cases 85 percent or more) of the dollars they receive from premiums on medical benefits and care for beneficiaries. If insurance companies do not meet these goals because their administrative costs or profits are too high, they must provide rebates to consumers.

High health insurance premiums are a terrible burden for individuals and families, and premium increases have been a problem for decades. However, since passage of the Affordable Care Act, premiums have generally been increasing at a slower rate. Please be assured that I am following this matter closely, and that I will keep your concerns in mind.

To learn more about what the Affordable Care Act means for Pennsylvania and for you, I encourage you to visit www.healthcare.gov, which has additional information about the specific provisions in the bill and how the legislation will be implemented. If you have further questions about how you and your family will be affected by this legislation, please do not hesitate to contact my office; my staff will be happy to assist you.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.

For more information on this or other issues, I encourage you to visit my website, http://casey.senate.gov. I hope you will find this online office a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.

Sincerely, Bob Casey United States Senator

[Timber Rattler]

Some context: Like everyone else, I finally got notice this week from our longstanding health insurance company that our premiums were being increased by a staggering amount for this coming annual enrollment period. The stated reason? Obamacare.

I immediately wrote to my Congressman and Senators [Casey and Toomey], and got this response from the useless Rat.

[Timber Rattler]

Now compare Casey's drivel with Toomey's response, which just arrived:

**************************************************

Dear XXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting my office about the president's health care law. I appreciate hearing from you.

The president's health care law is fundamentally wrong in its approach to improving our nation's health care system. It forces people to buy overpriced health plans they do not want, hikes taxes, and puts important, personal health care decisions in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats instead of patients and their doctors. The whole law is unworkable, and the Administration's approach of providing ad hoc relief continues to be woefully inadequate. For these reasons, I have voted for and continue to support the full repeal of the president's health care law.

With a new majority in the Senate, Republicans should pass a full repeal of the president's health care law, making it clear to voters who elected them that the only thing preventing the elimination of this ill-conceived law is the veto power of the president. That said, as long as President Obama occupies the White House, a full repeal is unlikely to be signed into law. Therefore, I am also intent on repealing the most onerous sections that we can. We made progress in recent legislation that exempts expatriate Americans from Obamacare, saves taxpayers from having to bail out health insurers, and reduces funding for the Obamacare bureaucracy empowered to ration health care services.

We should build on that progress with additional bipartisan reforms, including repealing the harmful medical device tax that raises health care costs for families and threatens thousands of well-paying jobs in Pennsylvania. We should also curb the employer mandate and try to eliminate the individual mandate to the extent that we can while attracting enough Democratic support to reach the 60-vote threshold needed for passage in the Senate.

Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania

[fatnotlazy]

Nice form letters. Casey in particular is repeating the same party line BS.

And Toomey — you would think he learned his lesson about “bipartisanship” when he conspired with the Democrats over “common sense gun control.” First of all, there should be no gun control. Secondly, the Democrats are the enemy. You do not collaborate with the enemy.

We the People are no longer represented in Congress. We are just the serfs.

[Timber Rattler]

Yeah, I know, and I expected as much from both of them. Casey’s staff-written letter is particularly galling in its delusion though. He’s not up for re-election until 2018, so I guess he feels safe enough right now sending out this kind of thin gruel to his constituents.

[I want the USA back]

Same bull$h!t.

[fatnotlazy]

This is why I believe in term limits for the House and Senate. Casey, with his name recognition in this state and the backing of unions and special interest groups, has the senatorship for as long as he wants it. He's done absolutely nothing in the Senate for the average citizen.

[Vigilanteman]

He's done absolutely nothing in the Senate for the average citizen.

But he has done plenty to them.

[Soul of the South]

“Nice form letters. Casey in particular is repeating the same party line BS.”

Casey’s letter is very similar to the one I received from Kay Hagan, just before she lost her reelection bid last year. Likely the White House or DNC developed a canned response and the individual Senators modify them slightly for their states and constituents.