GRAHAM-CASSIDY BILL INTRODUCED
This week, Senators Graham (R-SC) and Cassidy (R-LA) introduced their bill to repeal and the replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). To read more about this bill, check out our blog post which includes links to the Senators’ section by section analysis and formula description as well as statements from organizations opposing Graham-Cassidy.
As was the case with the prior repeal and replace bills in the House and Senate, we believe that Graham-Cassidy fails to preserve the protections the ACA provided for people with disabilities. Therefore, the American Association on Health and Disability (the lead partner for the NDNRC) opposes Graham-Cassidy and urges Congress to reject it. Previously, we did an analysis on our blog of the House and Senate versions of ACA repeal and replace. You can also view the NDNRC statement on health reform which we released after the election last November which includes the provisions of the ACA which we believe are vital to people with disabilities. In the statement entitled “Preserve the Protections Provided by the Affordable Care Act,” we call on Congress and the Administration to protect provisions in the ACA which have benefited people with disabilities.
Tim Jost from Health Affairs has also written a blog post with an analysis of Graham-Cassidy. The Kaiser Family Foundation also has an interactive chart with the ACA compared to several of the replacement proposals, including Graham-Cassidy, the American Health Care Act (House Bill) and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (Senate Bill).
AAHD is a member of the National Health Council (NHC) and this week, NHC outlined their proposals for stabilizing the ACA marketplace. These proposals are summarized in NHC’s two-pager.
The Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms has also recently looked at the issue of marketplace stabilization and what states can do to protect their consumers by releasing fact sheets with options for what states can do in this area.
According to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the rate of uninsurance dropped in 2016 to 8.8 percent. This was down from 9.1 percent in 2015. For more on this report, see the analysis on the Health Affairs blog.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is reprising their Health Reform: Beyond the Basics webinar series next week. Throughout the month, they will be presenting 4 webinars in preparation for the upcoming open enrollment. To view the schedule for these webinars, including links to register for them, check out our news item.
The University of Washington – Healthy Aging Rehabilitation Research Training Center (RRTC) has released a plain language research summary on “The Role of Happiness in People Living with Chronic Pain”.
Are you looking for local partners to help with outreach to the disability community? The NDNRC has Community Outreach Collaboratives (COCs) which work to increase collaborations in the community, dissemination and outreach efforts and enrollment of people with disabilities in the ACA marketplace. You can find a COC, on the COC page of our website.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.