Healthcare

Every American deserves excellent, affordable, and accessible healthcare.

For the newborn to the elderly, for those suffering pre-existing conditions to the newly-diagnosed, for those simply needing annual physicals to those requiring hospital stays, healthcare is a must that advances survival and increases quality of life. In every other developed country, citizens have such universal healthcare, but in America we do not. Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act have attempted to fill gaps of iniquity, but those safety nets are frequently targeted by Republicans who falsely claim to offer alternatives, but offer nothing of substance.

While the Biden administration has done a phenomenal job of signing up new members to the Affordable Care Act, it is not enough. Hard-working Americans whose wages put them above the Federal Poverty Line, but whose employers don’t offer healthcare benefits are still strapped by significant medical expenses whenever they suffer a health crisis or seek preventative routine care. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, “medical debt has become a leading cause of personal bankruptcy, with an estimated $88 billion of that debt in collections nationwide.” If Republicans hadn’t hobbled the Affordable Care Act early on, more Americans would have had access to preventable care, staving off crises, and those personal bankruptcies might have been avoided.

Additionally, Americans are unduly burdened by trying to understand what care they can receive and/or afford in a confusing patchwork of healthcare services from urban state-of-the-art hospitals to rural healthcare centers that by turns unpredictably reward or punish those who dare to move across state or even county lines. For example, in PA-13, Juniata County is one of six counties considered a “maternal health desert” which are counties “…where maternity care services—like prenatal doctor visits, screenings for preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications, and hospitals or clinics with birth centers—are limited or nonexistent.” In Franklin County, Wellspan Chambursburg Hospital stopped admitting pediatric patients this month and transferred their pediatric staff elsewhere, while Wellspan Waynesboro Hospital already didn’t admit pediatric patients. In other words, children in Franklin county who need ongoing care must seek it at least an hour away at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital in Hershey, UPMC Harrisburg, WellSpan York Hospital or the state of Maryland. Our current US Representative, John Joyce, frequently announces his support for Community Healthcare Centers which provide basic services for rural residents, but many PA-13 mothers and children need far more healthcare than a few stitches or flu testing.

Recently, the expansion of Medicaid that provided children and families with healthcare throughout the pandemic ended and over 121k children were dropped in Pennsylvania alone. Sadly, only 53k have enrolled in Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP by most parents. Who or what is covering then the healthcare costs for the nearly 70k Pennsylvania children left behind? And what about the 2 million children across the other states who haven’t successfully enrolled in CHIP?

Congress must strengthen the Affordable Care Act and reinstate its original parameters so that Americans across the country can access a consistent network of the excellent and affordable care it sought to provide before Republicans sabotaged it. 

Resources:

Sign up for the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare) coverage until January 15th 2024 HERE

12 Ways the GOP Sabotaged Obamacare

Medical Debt Legislation

FACT SHEET: The Republican Agenda: Repealing the Affordable Care Act and Slashing Medicaid

Expecting the Unexpected – 193000 Women Live in Maternity Deserts Across Pennsylvania

Three Million Fewer Children in the U.S. are Covered by Medicaid: CHIP Enrollment Isn’t Growing Much

Financial Health Worsens at PA Hospitals Yet Some in Harrisburg Region Show Big Profits