House Republicans have voted more than 50 times to rollback or fully repeal the Affordable Care Act. They did it again yesterday. While it feels like Bill Murray’s movie “Groundhog Day” it’s not even close to funny for the millions of Americans this repeal would hurt.
Seniors have probably been the most demagogued group when it comes to what the ACA actually means to their health care. Remember those fake “death panels” you were assured were a part of health care reform? They weren’t. The ACA also didn’t “destroy Medicare” as promised by opponents. Quite to the contrary, seniors in Medicare have benefitted from a number of important improvements since its passage. This success is exactly why the conservatives in Washington remain desperate to repeal health care reform before evidence of the ACA’s success can no longer be buried in a mountain of their false claims and political hysteria.
Medicare beneficiaries will save, on average, $5,000 over the next ten years thanks to health care reform provisions. Here are just a few of the real-life benefits millions of seniors in Medicare would lose immediately if Republicans have their way and repeal the Affordable Care Act. You can see even more in our NCPSSM brief.
- No out-of-pocket costs for preventive services like colorectal and mammogram screenings and annual wellness visits
- 50% discount for brand name drugs purchased while in the Part D donut hole, leading to the closure of the donut hole entirely
- $700 in covered drug costs for the average senior would be lost and the sickest seniors would face $3,600 in additional out-of-pocket costs
- Reduction of billions in overpayments to private insurers in Medicare and a new requirement that 85% of every dollar is spent on healthcare rather than costs/profits
- $200 per year in premiums and $200 in out-of-pocket costs to be saved by seniors by the year 2018
- $350 million in fraud-fighting investment
- Medicare Trust Fund will lose years of solvency
Of course, seniors in Medicare aren’t the only ones this repeal would hurt. Here’s a list of what losing the Affordable Care Act means for Americans of every age.