Health Care Repeal Would Have Costly Consequences for Texas Consumers and Small Businesses

TexPIRG

AUSTIN–Consumers and small businesses in Texas will face significantly higher insurance premiums and could see costly coverage denials and price discrimination if efforts to repeal the federal health care law prevail in Congress or in the courts, according to The Cost of Repeal: Examining the Impact on Texas of Repealing the New Federal Health Care Law, a new report released today by TexPIRG.

According to the report, in the short term, repeal would strip tax credits from 248,700 Texas small businesses. And over the longer term, the cost of offering employer-based health insurance could jump by more than $3000 a year over current law.

“In today’s economy, the higher costs that would result from repeal are the last thing that Texas consumers and businesses need,” said Melissa Cubria, TexPIRG Advocate.

“If you are hit by a truck today or your child contracts a dreaded disease, your future ought not to depend on the fine print in an insurance policy you didn’t have anything to do with writing,” said Congressman Lloyd Doggett. “Repealing the health insurance reform law means that health care costs will remain the leading cause of personal bankruptcy and credit card debt in this country. A repeal vote puts more of your premium dollars in the hands of insurance monopolies, instead of keeping those dollars in your pocket. This is a vote about whether insurance companies claim a larger piece of your family budget or American families get more peace of mind.”

The new TexPIRG report draws on data from independent sources, including the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, other government agencies, business groups and health analysts, and finds the following: 

• Repealing the new state health insurance exchange would drive premiums on the individual market up to 20% higher for the same coverage by 2016.
• Without the new law’s insurance reforms, the 4,283,000 of Texas residents who have pre-existing conditions, ranging from asthma to cancer, will continue to face coverage denials and price discrimination when purchasing their own insurance.
• If the insurance reforms are repealed, Texas women will continue to pay higher prices than men for health coverage.
• Rolling back last year’s law would drive up employer health costs, leading to 33,980 fewer jobs created per year in Texas by the end of the decade.
• Outright repeal would pull $52.5 billion in federal Medicaid dollars out of the state’s economy and terminate establishment or expansion of 318 community health centers across Texas.

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill to repeal the new law outright on Wednesday. Attorney General Greg Abbott has signed onto a federal lawsuit urging the roll back of the law.  And Washington’s intensely partisan debate over health care threatens to spill over to Austin, as the Governor and state legislators consider key implementation decisions. 

The Cost of Repeal recommends a set of pro-active policy changes on which supporters and opponents of last year’s health care law should be able to find common ground.  These include:

• Using the substantial authority the state has under current law to design a health insurance exchange that is adapted to meet the needs of our state’s markets, consumers, and businesses.
• Taking additional steps to contain health care costs, like using information technology to ensure that doctors receive the latest research about which treatments are most effective – at the patient’s bedside.   
• Crack down on balance-billing, a practice whereby hospitals or providers accept payment from a patient’s insurance plan, then charge additional amounts-above and beyond the usual co-pays and cost sharing.

“Before our elected officials join this headlong rush to repeal in Washington, they should consider the consequences for our state, and look for solutions that hold down costs, not increase them,” said Cubria.