Statement from FL Rep. Daniel Webster on passage of American Health Care Act

Washington, DC – Today, Florida Representative Daniel Webster (R-Clermont) released the following statement regarding his vote on the H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act.

“Today, I voted to end the nightmare that has been the [un]Affordable Care Act(ACA) and to provide Americans with the care they need, at a price they can afford, from the doctor they choose.

"For six years, I have been an advocate for repealing the failed Obamacare and replacing it with real healthcare reform. ACA has is collapsing across the country - currently 4.7 million people are without an insurer.  This failed policy is raising costs for patients and forcing insurers out of the marketplace, which leaves patients and families with nowhere to go. 

“I have been very concerned about Florida's Medicaid-funded nursing home beds.  These are critical to the access most of our senior population has to our nursing homes.  

“President Trump, Vice President Pence, Center for Medicaid Services and House leadership have committed to find a solution to ensure Florida is equipped to serve one of our most vulnerable. With these assurances and Chairman Walden’s comments that are now in the official record, I voted for the bill today.”

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Background:

Florida is a very efficient state when it comes to providing Medicaid services. We have a million more Medicaid enrollees than New York and yet half the funding. We are also among the fastest growing states in the nation. Many seniors depend on Medicaid-funded nursing home beds when their Medicare coverage runs out.  Our high senior population is exploding as more baby boomers reach senior age.  The formula expressed in the bill calculates a per capita cost multiplied by the number of eligible Medicaid recipients for the previous year.  The normal increase in cost of services coupled with being one of the fastest growing states in the country, puts Florida particularly at risk for exceeding the costs established under the bill.  This would trigger a claw-back provision that places a huge burden on the state.

More about recent healthcare bills passed by the House:

• Lowers administrative costs for small businesses who seek to provide health insurance for their employees.
• Allows small business owners to join association health plans and thus lower their and their employees’ health care costs.
• Maintains protections for those with pre-existing conditions and prohibition against insurers turning away patients when they renew their plans simply because they may be sick. More information on pre-existing conditions policy is here.
• Allows dependents up to age 26 to stay on their parent’s plan.
• Eliminates the individual and employer mandate penalties and medical device tax
• Repeals Obamacare subsidies this year
• Reduces qualifying income threshold from 10 percent to 5.8% which is lower than the pre-Obamacare level.
• Doubles the amount of tax-free money individuals can contribute to their Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
• Empowers states to convert their Medicaid program to a block grant and establish work-requirements.
• Subjects health insurance issuers to same laws which prohibit unfair trade practices, including laws that prohibit price fixing, collusion or market allocations to the detriment of consumers.

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