As President Trump & Republican Leadership Move Forward With Repeal, Shaheen Seeks ACA Stories From Granite Staters

(Washington, DC)—This morning in a video published on social media, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) asked Granite Staters who have been helped by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to send-in their stories as part of her effort to show President Trump and Republican leadership in Congress that the people who could be harmed by repealing this law are more than just statistics. Senator Shaheen setup a special email address for Granite Staters to send-in their stories: HowACAHelpedMe@shaheen.senate.gov.  

“Repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement would recklessly endanger healthcare coverage for nearly 120,000 Granite Staters,” says Shaheen in the video. “But I want to show my colleagues that this isn’t just a number – it is individuals and families whose lives would be disrupted if their health insurance was pulled out from under them. That’s where we need your help. I want to hear your story. What has the Affordable Care Act done for you?…We need to show Republican leadership in Washington what their actions to repeal healthcare coverage will mean to Granite Staters and their families.”

Senator Shaheen has been urging President Trump and Republican leadership in Congress to work across the aisle to improve the law, rather than repeal. In 2015, Senator Shaheen successfully improved the Affordable Care Act to help small businesses by passing bipartisan legislation. The Pace Act remains one of the few successful and non-controversial efforts to change the healthcare reform law.

Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report on the Republicans’ plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The report estimated that by repealing the ACA without a replacement, 32 million people would lose healthcare coverage by 2026, with nearly 18 million Americans losing coverage in the first year of enactment. Premiums in individual markets would about double by 2026. The same day the CBO report was released, Senators Shaheen and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) hosted a roundtable discussion with healthcare providers and policy leaders to assess the impact of repealing the Affordable Care Act on New Hampshire. These experts warned that this could have dire consequences for the tens of thousands of Granite Staters who now have coverage thanks to the healthcare reform law. They drew attention to the expanded coverage provided for mental health and substance misuse treatment, which has been vital as the state combats the opioid epidemic, as well as for the management of diabetes and other diseases. Providers also highlighted the harmful effects of repeal, which hospital administrators have already factored into investments for the future of their practices. Repealing the ACA and the corresponding compensation structure would disrupt hospitals and healthcare providers’ ability to plan ahead.

Key Facts on the ACA in New Hampshire:

- 43%: uninsured rate in NH has fallen since the ACA was enacted in 2010 citation

- 63,000: Granite Staters who gained healthcare coverage under the ACA citation

- 3x: Estimated increase in uninsured rate if the ACA were repealed citation

- 118,000: Granite Staters who would lose health care coverage by 2019 under ACA repeal citation

- 48,000: Medicaid claims submitted in 2015 for vital substance use disorder treatment

- 9,000: Young adults who have benefited from the ACA provision that allows kids to stay on their parents’ health insurance up to age 26 citation

- 690,524: Granite Staters who benefitted from free preventative care and services such as flu shots, cancer screenings & contraception citation

- 74%: Seniors enrolled in Medicare Part B who took advantage of at least one free preventive service citation

- 13,000: Number jobs lost in NH if the ACA were repealed citation

- 2%: average premium increase on NH’s exchange from 2016 to 2017, the second lowest increase in the nation citations here and here

ACA Repeal & Opioid Epidemic:

- 50%: Increase in treatment gap under ACA repeal for Americans suffering from the opioid epidemic citation

- $5.5 billion: Amount of money lost per year under ACA repeal for treatment for mental and substance use disorders citation

- 2.8 million: Americans with a substance use disorder, of whom about 222,000 have an opioid use disorder, would lose some or all of their insurance coverage citation