Delegation Introduces Bill Returning Healthcare Options to Alaskans

Statement

Today, U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, and Congressman Don Young introduced the Ensuring Health Care Opportunities Act of 2016 which will help Alaskans struggling with the high cost of health insurance, and strive to attract more insurance companies to Alaska.

President Obama, and many of those who voted for the Affordable Care Act, promised that those who liked their healthcare coverage could keep it under Obamacare, and that the act would lower costs and increase competition. The President said that every plan would offer an "affordable, basic package." Six years later, hundreds of thousands of Americans, particularly those in rural states like Alaska, have seen premiums and deductibles skyrocket, and choices decrease with an exodus of insurance companies. A recent Gallup poll reveals that 29% of Americans say they have been directly hurt by Obamacare, and 51% of Americans disapprove of the law.

When the Affordable Care Act became law, Alaskans had their choice of five insurers offering individual coverage on the federal exchange. Today, Alaska is one of as many as eight states down to one insurance company offering such policies. Further, one-in-four counties across the county are down to one insurance company offering individual plans.

Until full repeal is realized, Alaskans are desperate for solutions. The Ensuring Health Care Opportunities Act would allow Alaskans, along with residents of states and localities with only one insurance company offering plans on the exchange, the option to buy health insurance that doesn't include certain Obamacare mandates that might not apply to them, like mental health services, addiction treatment and maternity care -- services which every health care policy today is required to cover.

"The cost of health care coverage is crippling Alaska's middle class," Senator Sullivan said. "The stories I hear and the letters I receive from my constituents being forced to buy insurance they can't afford, and insurance they can't use because of high deductibles, are heartbreaking. The President and the law's supporters are M.I.A. as announcement after announcement comes out detailing the abject failure of Obamacare, taking many Americans' livelihoods with it. Something has to be done. Until we can repeal Obamacare, this bill will provide Alaskans what they have been asking for -- a real choice in policies."

"We have seen time and time again that the Affordable Care Act does not work for a low-population, high-risk state such as Alaska. This essential bill would once again give Alaskans a choice in their healthcare coverage, a choice that the Affordable Care Act had taken away," said Senator Murkowski. "I am proud to join with Senator Sullivan and Congressman Young to bring relief and flexibility to Alaskans suffering from the failing ACA's one-size-fits-all policies."

"Long before the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, many predicted that this one-size-fits-all healthcare law simply wouldn't work -- especially in places like Alaska," said Congressman Don Young. "With skyrocketing premiums and the loss of all but one healthcare provider, it's clear that those predictions have come true. Alaskans need and demand relief from this overbearing government mandate, especially as our system faces near collapse. This bill takes serious efforts to confront the many healthcare challenges facing Alaskans by removing some of the most unreasonable requirements of this law, while also giving Alaskans the choice and flexibility they need and deserve."

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