September 21, 2017/Press
GOP Senators Tout Health Care Repeal that “Gets State Legislatures Involved” Yet Berger and Moore Remain Silent
Raleigh – Republican Senators are having a hard time explaining what their Graham-Cassidy health care bill does, other than vaguely fulfill a seven-year campaign slogan of “repeal and replace.” Yet the one thing almost all agree on is that the bill gives state legislatures the power to remake our health care system.
But the two most influential state Republicans, the very people who would be in charge of remaking our health care system – Speaker Moore and Senator Berger – have yet to answer a simple solution: are they in favor of a bill that allows insurers to charge people with preexisting conditions more?
Here’s how some influential senators describe the plan (per Vox):
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY): “It gets the money out of Washington, lets people at home make the decision, and gets state legislatures involved…”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): “The heart of the legislation takes the policymaking role of Washington and sends it to the states.”
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS): “Restoring decision-making back to the states is always a good idea”
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK): “Well, first of all, as a general rule the states do things better than the federal government does [things]. And that is essentially what the bill is.”
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA): “By going to block grants, back to the states, the control of money stays with the states…”
Even Dallas Woodhouse is excited about the General Assembly and Sen. Berger creating a “NC solution” to health care.
Yet no one has heard from Sen. Berger and Speaker Moore: do they think people with pre-existing conditions should have to pay more for care and should Medicaid should be gutted and radically reformed?
“Republican Senators are inching closer to stripping billions of dollars from North Carolina, radically reforming Medicaid, and letting big insurance companies charge people with cancer more for the same care – and no one has heard from the very Republican leaders this bill empowers. The public deserves to know where Speaker Moore and Sen. Berger stand on this dangerous repeal effort.”