It didn’t take long for advocacy groups for senior citizens to celebrate the failure of the Republican plan to abolish the Affordable Care Act — it came within minutes after congressional leaders and President Donald Trump acknowledged defeat.
A broad swath of organizations claiming to represent older adults — AARP, Justice in Aging, the Medicare Rights Center and Caring Across Generations, among them — had lobbied against the GOP health insurance overhaul. They swiftly issued statements Friday afternoon expressing some combination of glee and relief that seniors’ interests would be better served by continuing things as they are under Obamacare.
“This harmful legislation would have added an Age Tax on older Americans and put vulnerable populations at risk,” said AARP executive vice president Nancy LeaMond, referring to an American Health Care Act provision that would have enabled insurers to raise rates on consumers in their 50s and 60s far higher than they can now.
“AARP will continue to oppose legislation that would impose an Age Tax on older Americans, weaken Medicare, erode seniors’ ability to live independently because of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts, and give sweetheart deals to drug and insurance companies while doing nothing to lower the cost of health care or prescription drugs,” the AARP executive said.
Many groups had worried proposed changes in Medicaid funding would drastically reduce the government support that both frail elderly and younger disabled individuals receive — so long as they are not well-off financially — to stay in their own homes. States would have had leeway to reduce assistance due to less federal funding available to them, and nursing home reimbursements could also have been affected.
“Congress tried to rush this disastrous bill through Congress without regard for the health and safety of older Americans and their families, and such a bill cannot and should not be revived,” said a statement from Justice in Aging, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization.
Much of the country’s care for the elderly comes in the form of unpaid assistance from family members, and the Caring Across Generations group worried that the burdens on those families would only have worsened under the repeal-and-replace legislation.
“If legislators want to strengthen the country’s care infrastructure, they should listen closely to the overwhelming majority of people who spoke out against this bill and want to improve foundational safety nets for our aging population, not weaken them,” the national group said.
Gary Rotstein: grotstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1255.
First Published: March 24, 2017, 10:48 p.m.
