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NEW YORKERS’ INSURANCE PREMIUMS TO JUMP BY DOUBLE-DIGITS THANKS TO HEALTH CARE SABOTAGE BY JOHN KATKO AND CLAUDIA TENNEY

Attacks On Health Care By Congressional Republicans And Central New York’s Own Congressmembers John Katko And Claudia Tenney Are Causing Massive Spikes In Insurance Costs

Trump’s Own Former HHS Secretary Admitted Repealing The Individual Mandate Would Raise Premiums Nationwide

SYRACUSE — New Yorkers’ health insurance plans are requesting approval to raise premiums by an average of 24 percent in 2019, as a direct result of Congressional Republicans’ repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, according to figures from the New York State Department of Financial Services.

“The single biggest justification offered by insurers for the requested increases is the Trump Administration’s repeal of the individual mandate penalty,” the Department of Financial Services report said. “The individual mandate, a key component of the Affordable Care Act, helped mitigate against dramatic price increases by ensuring healthier insurance pools. Insurers have attributed approximately half of their requested rate increases to the risks they see resulting from its repeal.”

New York insurers are requesting an average of 24 percent increases, with some even requesting increases over 30 percent:

• Fidelis (New York Quality Healthcare Corp.): 38.6%
• Emblem: 31.5%
• Oscar: 25.2%
• Empire Healthchoice Assurance: 24%
• UnitedHealthcare of New York Inc.: 23.6%

“For the past year and a half, President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have engaged in a deliberate, aggressive campaign to undermine health care and now families in New York are being asked to pay the price,” said Brad Woodhouse, Campaign Director for Protect Our Care, a national organization dedicated to protecting the Affordable Care Act. “While insurance companies make huge profits and enjoy record tax breaks from Republicans, they are planning to charge working families even more.”

Both Congressmembers Claudia Tenney and John Katko voted to pass the disastrous TrumpTax, which included the repeal of the individual mandate. As a result, premiums around the state will are on track to increase dramatically, endangering access to health care for millions of New Yorkers and thousands of Tenney’s and Katko’s own constituents. Tenney also voted for numerous bills that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and further driven up her constituents’ health insurance premiums.

Last month, Trump’s own former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price admitted that the repeal would significantly increase premiums around the country. “There are many, and I’m one of them, who believes that that actually will harm the pool in the exchange market, because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently that drives up the cost for other folks within that market,” Price said. News of massive premium increases confirms Price’s and countless health care experts’ expectations that health insurance would get more expensive thanks to the sabotage supported by Claudia Tenney and John Katko.

The New York State DFS estimates that the repeal of the individual mandate is singlehandedly responsible for an 11.9 percent jump in premiums on its own. That comes alongside the TrumpTax’s $1.5 trillion tax break that overwhelmingly helps wealthy corporations and the rich. Here in New York, taxes will actually increase by an estimated $2.4 billion in 2019 alone.

If Republicans like Tenney and Katko weren’t working every day to chip away at the stability of American health care, premiums would likely be going up by small amounts each year instead, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and millions more would still be able to afford their insurance. Since 2016, 4 million working-age adults have lost insurance because of Republicans’ sustained assault on the Affordable Care Act, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund.