Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., says a Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act will have disastrous effects in Delaware.
Delaware’s senior senator said the American Health Care Act that passed the House would cut Delaware’s Medicaid funding by $2 billion over 10 years.
And he doesn’t expect the Senate version of the bill to be much better since Republicans are crafting the bill in private, without Democrats.
“There are no hearings, no roundtable discussions, no opportunities in committee to offer amendments. When we worked on the Affordable Care Act 9 years ago there were dozens of hearings. There were hundreds of amendments, including 160 amendments by Republicans,” he said.
Carper is calling on Republican Senators to hold bipartisan hearings on their health care bill and allow Democrats to offer amendments. Otherwise, he’ll support procedural roadblocks to slow down the GOP’s passage of the bill.
“Within reason, whatever it takes to slow them down until they can come to their senses, we ought to do that," he said.
Democrat Senators will also be making speeches to take over the Senate floor until late Monday night to protest the Republican health care bill.
Carper made the remarks at a joint-press conference at the Westside Family Healthcare clinic in Dover Monday.
Joining him were Delaware Health and Social Services Secretary Dr. Kara Odom Walker, Attorney General Matt Denn and Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro.
They all agreed a repeal of Obamacare would disproportionately hurt Delaware's children, seniors and people with disabilities.
It would also undermine Delaware’s ability to respond to the opioid crisis, since most addicts depend on Medicaid or Obamacare plans for treatment.
"We need Congress to help us with the opioid epidemic, not make things worse," Denn said.
Meanwhile, Delaware's last remaining insurer in the Obamacare marketplace, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, has asked the state to approve a rate hike of nearly 34 percent in 2018.
Highmark is assuming cost-sharing subsidies and an individual mandate won’t be in place next year as Republican lawmakers work on their plan to repeal the ACA.
"When you cut the lifeblood and the oxygen from something you cut its ability to thrive," Navarro said.
He's calling on Congress to provide the cost-sharing subsidies to keep costs from rising in the state marketplace.
Currently, 27,000 people in Delaware have plans through the Obamacare marketplace.
