INDIANAPOLIS – The Republican overhaul of the health care system that Congressmen Messer and Rokita voted for would cost more than 310,000 Hoosiers their health care, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported this morning. According to a former Acting Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the uncertainty created by congressional Republicans also has destabilized insurance markets and may cause premiums to shoot up when announced next week.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: Over 310,000 Hoosiers could lose insurance; $2,455 average premium hike in GOP plan

More than 310,000 residents of Indiana would lose their medical insurance under the Republican health care legislation, according to a former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Andy Slavitt said Wednesday that Hoosiers who retain their coverage through federal insurance exchanges would see their expenses increase by an average of $2,455 next year under the proposed American Health Care Act.

The Republican Congress and the Trump administration “are actively undermining the insurance markets, resulting in very large proposed (price) increases in 2018 relative to what they would otherwise be” under the current Affordable Care Act, Slavitt said in a conference call with Indiana reporters.

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Slavitt, who was the CMS acting administrator for President Barack Obama from March 2015 until this year, said the Republican legislation would remove $1.1 trillion from the health care system over a decade to pay for tax cuts for insurance companies, medical device makers, pharmaceutical companies and wealthy Americans.

He accused the Trump administration of trying to “sabotage” the Affordable Care Act by relaxing penalties for people who fail to carry medical insurance and halting outreach efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services during the last week of open enrollment in January.

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