House Republicans continue to prove that the GOP is the "party of no." Even as most Americans, and certainly many LGBT Americans, want Congress to focus on strengthening the economy and job creation, House Republicans this week began debate on a bill to repeal health care reform, the Affordable Care Act. Yes, they know the bill won't go anywhere, because the Senate is still controlled by Democrats and President Barack Obama has said he will veto such a measure.
So why take up debate?
There are a couple of reasons. First, many of the Republicans ran angry campaigns and called for health care to be repealed. They won, so now they need to deliver for the folks back home, even if they know repeal won't happen. Second, in an effort to weaken Obama as he gears up for re-election next year, Republican congressional leaders can focus on the Affordable Care Act, which is not well understood by many Americans.
We wonder if Americans have enough information to understand what would happen if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. While it is true that most of the major changes won't go into effect until 2014, some provisions of the law were enacted last year. Now, insurers can no longer limit lifetime coverage to a fixed dollar amount or take away coverage because of a mistake on an application. Significantly, young adults up to the age of 26 have the option of staying on their parents' coverage if they lack access to job-based insurance of their own. And insurers cannot deny coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition. As health care costs continue to increase in California and the nation, do people really want to dismantle a program that hasn't even been fully implemented yet? If you don't think that the cost of access to health care is out of control, consider that Blue Shield of California has announced that it will raise rates in California by as much as 59 percent as of March 1, and the state insurance commissioner, Dave Jones, is powerless to stop it. His office is reviewing the proposal and he asked the company to hold off; Blue Shield declined.
Once the full range of changes in health care reform are enacted in 2014, all Americans living with pre-existing conditions will be able to get the health coverage they need, as insurers will not be able to deny them coverage. According to an analysis from the Department of Health and Human Services, repealing the law would "once again leave millions of Americans worrying about whether coverage will be there when they need it."
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also noted that right now many uninsured people with pre-existing conditions have enrolled in the temporary high-risk pool that provides private insurance.
We have seen – albeit on a much smaller scale – the benefits of providing health insurance to the uninsured through the Healthy San Francisco program. As of December 31, the program enrolled 55,189 San Franciscans, divided almost evenly by gender. The program excludes sexual reassignment services for transgender people, but, as we reported last fall, several trans leaders in the city expect the policy to be changed.
Likewise, there are no LGBT-specific provisions in the national health care reform law. But some of us have pre-existing conditions and the ending of lifetime caps on those with chronic health needs will help those living with HIV/AIDS.
Most alarming is that House Republicans won't stop with their symbolic vote. After that is done, they are expected to try to take apart the law piece by piece.
On Tuesday, the president issued a statement indicating that he is willing to work with Democrats and Republicans to improve the Affordable Care Act. "But we can't go backwards," he said.
That's right. Health care passed with virtually no GOP support. Obama shouldn't compromise his signature legislative victory by carving out chunks of it to satisfy Republicans. The president must stand firm.