Nelson: Activist Supreme Court will likely trigger rising health costs, jeopardize care for children with pre-existing conditions

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

WASHINGTON -- Today, Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson said health insurance premiums will rise for millions of Americans and health care will be jeopardized for children with pre-existing medical conditions if the activist U.S. Supreme strikes down all or part of the Affordable Care Act as expected soon.

"Nebraskans and all Americans should be troubled that an activist U.S. Supreme Court could soon undo part or all of the landmark health reform law with serious consequences for families, young adults and children," said Senator Nelson. "The activist Supreme Court expected actions could send health insurance premiums skyrocketing and endanger health care for more than 100,000 Nebraska kids with pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma or diabetes.

"When the activist Supreme Court breaks health reform, the Tea Party wing and others will have an obligation to fix it," the senator added. "The Court could eliminate the individual mandate or overturn the entire law. At a minimum, that will unleash a $78 billion hidden tax that Americans with insurance pay for those who can't or won't get health coverage. It will create uncertainty in America's health care system and renew difficulties for millions of Americans in securing affordable and effective health care."

This month, before its current session ends, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on challenges to the Affordable Care Act. The court has been asked to declare unconstitutional the law's requirement that all Americans obtain health coverage, known as the individual mandate. It also has been asked to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act on constitutional grounds.

Nelson noted that the individual mandate was once a key Republican health care proposal and a provision that America's health insurers insisted be included in the Affordable Care Act. The requirement to obtain health insurance is a key way to extend coverage to 30 million Americans who today are not insured. That, in turn, will dramatically reduce the amount of cost shifting in health care where Americans who have insurance pay hidden extra costs in their premiums to cover the costs of those who don't have insurance but receive care, often at high-cost emergency rooms.

"If those who break the law fail to fix it, it'll be clear that they never wanted to help Americans whose health care premiums rise nearly 10 percent a year or children with pre-existing medical conditions," Nelson said. "It'll be clear what their motivations were all along: just to play politics."

Nelson said they will not have to start from scratch to develop alternative ways to reverse the trend of increasing healthcare costs and eliminate the unfair tax the insured currently pay to cover the cost of those who either cannot afford or choose not to be insured.

In the spring of 2010, Nelson asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate ways to increase insurance enrollment without an individual mandate, given "the possibility that legislative or judicial action could result in a change to, or elimination of, the mandate." The GAO report, published in 2011, outlined nine alternatives and their potential challenges, drawn from interviews with 41 health care experts in 21 organizations from a broad range of perspectives.

Before outlining the alternatives, the GAO noted the Congressional history of the individual mandate and its intended policy goals, including to allow for a ban on pre-existing conditions and to reduce the costs of uncompensated care. Uncompensated care is what Americans who have insurance pay for the care those who don't have insurance, either because they refuse to buy it or cannot afford it. The GAO found that in 2008 this hidden tax cost Americans $57 billion.

More recently, The Urban Institute published a report in January 2012 noting the level of uncompensated care now totals $78.5 billion. This study found that the share Nebraskans paid was $431 million in uncompensated care for those who receive care but don't pay.

The GAO report, Private Health Insurance Coverage: Expert Views on Approaches to Encourage Voluntary Enrollment, can be found here.

The Urban Institute study, State Progress Toward Health Reform Implementation: Slower Moving States Have Much to Gain, can be found here.

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  • Same as JJ Exon during his "lame duck" term. Party over Nebraskans.

    Classic Party verbage: "activist" Court... when those "activists" are the ones following the Constitution. I guess if it is repeated enough...

    Nebraska has three "voters": the Democrat right-or-wrong, the Republican right-or-wrong and NEBRASKAN's.

    Unfortunately, Nebraskan's have to register with one of the two others for their vote to "count". But it didn't keep Nebraskans from voting for Ben when he "represented Nebraska".

    Sad to say, Ben has forgot why NEBRASKAN's elected him.

    It must be the money...

    -- Posted by REAL NEBRASKAN on Tue, Jun 12, 2012, at 5:54 PM
  • Ben if you would have done Health Care reform right in the first place and worked with both sides your extremists buddies like Ried and Nancy Polisi /who said just pass this bill and we will deal with the details later comment was confirmation of how stupid you all are in Washington today? and now the Courts have to show you all what is legal and what is not in the real world and its not anybodys fault but yours period so no pity party about the teaparty folks...

    To bad you are not running for reelection this November so all in Nebraska could show you personally what they think of your vote on the socailist side for all your personal friend in the leftwing swingers club and all the huge increases of health care costs already have created for all us taxpayer to clean up once again you created the court is just doing its job.

    Hopefull Ben your buddy Kerry can get you a job in New York City most left wing schools as he did and you can recycle again in 12 years as another bad mistake in our past as Kerry is doing today ...I am just sorry that i ever voted for you after your sellout to us in Nebraska on the health care vote..

    Kerry will get his reality shot this November with Nebraskans every i know are not liking a carpet bagger from NY representing Nebraska values and beliefs that ran to New York to finish his career after quiting us in the 90s and until Reid called him and ask to fill in for you puppet postion in the Senate...so they can still pull a vote for Obama socialists ways

    -- Posted by Cornwhisperer on Tue, Jun 12, 2012, at 6:17 PM
  • Once Benny is done throwing his latest tantrum, maybe he can tell us about "activist" and corrupt Senators like himself who sell their deciding votes for backroom Cornhusker Kickback bribes, Buffett/Berkshire cronyism, tell their constituents to shove it, and sellout the Unborn to the abortion lobby of Planned Parenthood.

    Then Ben can also tell us why he so despises the Constitution, Nebraskans' love of freedom, and free market - commonsense solutions to healthcare like; tort reform, selling insurance across state lines, and Medicare/Medicaid reform. However, the answer is obvious, as Benny loves crony capitalism for himself and foists his big government neo-Marxism upon the "ignorant masses". In any case, the GOP plan has already been introduced on the floor of Congress, and conservative institutions like The Heritage Foundation have their own plans that actually REFORM healthcare within the constraints of the Constitution.

    Benny also fails to mention that under the first phase of ObamaCare, premiums have already skyrocketed, businesses are cutting back, and the worst is yet to come by full implementation in 2014. Benny's ObamaCare regulations are now tens of thousands of pages and are killing job creation. The latest chapter in Benny's ObamaCare saga is his new HHS mandates to shutdown all faith-based healthcare providers like St. Elizabeth's, St. Mary's, St. Francis, and Good Samaritan hospitals. Benny's ObamaCare accounting gimmicks have now been shown by the CBO to add TRILLIONS in deficits, plunder Medicare/Medicaid, will force taxpayers to fund abortions, and death panels for the elderly and infirm. With this kind of record, is it any wonder why the latest polling shows fully TWO THIRDS of Americans DO NOT WANT OBAMACARE?!

    Not to worry Benny, as We The People will enact REAL & BIPARTISAN healthcare reform under a new president, House, and Senate in 2013 once you and your neo-Marxist cabal are out of power. So, Benny is now throwing a tantrum since he got caught as an "activist" trashing the Constitution, shaming himself with bribes and cronyism, and that We The People gave him the boot. Just like Big Apple Bob Kerrey, Benny will move back east and make his bribe taking a career via a cushy lobbyist job. Good riddance, and we can only hope you take your bronze statue, that disgraces McCook and our great state, with you...

    -- Posted by 9th ID on Tue, Jun 12, 2012, at 7:49 PM
  • Yes we all know how efficient government agencies are....

    Really? wow.

    Ben, don't let the door hit you in the a** on your way out.

    -- Posted by quick13 on Thu, Jun 14, 2012, at 9:54 AM
  • McCook's version of a Mensa club gathering.

    -- Posted by hulapopper on Thu, Jun 14, 2012, at 10:15 PM
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