Henry L. Dorkin, MD, FAAP, President of the
Massachusetts Medical Society, released the following statement:
“It is now clear that health care for our nation is in dire
jeopardy.
“Every attempt at repeal of the Affordable Care Act this
year would have replaced the law with a system that would have stripped health
care coverage from millions of Americans, increased overall health care costs,
and left many of our most vulnerable neighbors, friends, and family members at
increased risk of becoming sicker. The goal of any health care legislation
should be to improve the health and well-being of our neighbors – not to harm
them through ill-conceived, impetuous action.
“With attempts at repeal ultimately proving unsuccessful,
the Administration has instead turned its attention to actions that will
dismantle and derail the systems and the protections afforded by the ACA. This
puts at risk the tens of millions of Americans who currently have health care
coverage through the ACA exchanges or through Medicaid expansion. It also
impacts those Americans with other sources of insurance coverage, because when
part of our health care system is torn apart, the rest of the system feels the
effects.
“Despite the countless lives that are dependent upon the
ACA, the Administration is clearly doing everything that it can to undermine
this health care law. This is the wrong approach.
“The recent announcement regarding the end of cost-sharing
reduction (CSR) subsidies to insurers is a signal that the Administration will
do what it takes to make the infrastructure of the ACA crumble, regardless of
any vote in Congress. Ending CSR subsidies would disproportionately impact the
working-class families who rely on the subsidies to afford their needed health
care coverage, and it will throw the system on which all of us depend – a
system that took years to build – into upheaval. Perhaps it is no coincidence
that this announcement came on the heels of an executive order allowing
alternative, low-quality health plans with fewer benefits and less government
protections.
“That’s not all. The Administration, through an act of
rule-making from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is working
to make it easier for employers to refuse to cover essential provisions of women’s
health care – critical health care services that should not be singled out as
less worthy than other services. In addition, HHS has undermined the ACA’s
annual open enrollment period; we can expect that this will cause many of our
patients to inadvertently miss their opportunity to sign up for coverage in
2018, leaving them without any health insurance at all. This would be tragic
and unacceptable.
“We are returning to the days of
uninsured patients unable to access care until it is too late. This has the
dual result of overloading our emergency rooms with patients late in the course
of disease, sometimes beyond the point where they can survive, and moreover at
a considerable increase in total health care costs. If our Federal
government is truly the steward for our society, this new action fails the
people.
“At the same time that Congress and the Administration have taken
actions that are detrimental to the interests of the patients for whom we, as
physicians, provide care, they have overlooked opportunities
to continue programs that expand access and control costs.
“The Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides
funding for more than 180,000 children in Massachusetts to receive reliable
health coverage, expired on September 30. On the same day, funding for
American’s community health centers – essential safety nets that provide care
for millions of Americans, including nearly one million patients in the
Commonwealth – also expired without reauthorization.
“The damage done to our patients is inexcusable and, quite
honestly, goes against the tenets of the Hippocratic oath we all took. As a
physician, I and my colleagues have dedicated our lives and careers to children
and adolescents with chronic and critical respiratory conditions. I knew a time
in which adulthood was out of reach for these children, and I know that with
needed treatment and care, this is no longer the case. We cannot go back.
“Let’s be clear: This is an attack on the very foundation of
access to health care for everyone in this country. We will all, regardless of
where we get our health coverage, potentially face a dramatic increase in
costs, reduction in the sufficiency of coverage, and for too many, complete
loss of access to insurance and care. Without question, it is the vulnerable
among us who will suffer the most.
“I, and my fellow members of the Massachusetts Medical
Society, will continue to fight for the life-saving access to care that all of
our patients need. They deserve better and we are determined to get it for
them.”
