Republican budget proposal threatens to make Coloradans sicker, poorer

As a physician concerned about patients’ ongoing ability to access their needed health care, I’ve been following recent budget proposals from our elected officials and how they could impact coverage. Unfortunately, I’m  quite alarmed by a proposal some of Colorado’s members of Congress are supporting.

The Republican Study Committee is currently advocating for a budget that would put people’s health care in serious danger, including raising costs and making health care simply more difficult to access. Members of this committee include Colorado’s own Rep. Lauren Boebert, and Rep. Doug Lamborn. Neither they, nor any Colorado member of Congress, should support cuts to health care. Doctors like me encourage them to instead support efforts to make healthcare more available and more affordable.

To date, the Affordable Care Act has saved Coloradans an average of $800 a year on insurance premiums. In addition, Medicaid expansion under the ACA meant 600,000 Coloradans who would otherwise not have any health care coverage now have it, bringing the total of low-income, hardworking Coloradans with health care to more than 1.5 million. Furthermore, the Inflation Reduction Act, which builds on the ACA, caps insulin at $35 a month per prescription and, starting next year, out-of-pocket prescription costs per year for older Coloradans. Medicare is also now negotiating lower drug costs, thanks to the IRA.

These are positive gains that put patients and families first, especially as drug and insurance corporations continue to raise costs, reward CEOs with multimillion-dollar perks and engage in shady financial practices that reward Wall Street stockholders at the expense of folks on Main Street. But the Republican Study Committee would throw all these gains away.

Reps. Boebert and Lamborn should reject what the Republican Study Committee is selling, including their plan to cut $4.5 trillion in health care for children, working families and older Americans and allow insurance companies to once again deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, cancer, diabetes, even pregnancy. Under the committee’s plan, health premiums would skyrocket for people ages 50 and older. Junk insurance plans that may cover little to virtually nothing and stick people with massive bills would be allowed again. Seniors with diabetes would go back to paying hundreds of dollars per month for life-saving insulin.

Our national leaders should be working to strengthen health care, as President Joe Biden has proposed. Members of Congress should be working with the president to reduce red tape, so families and children don’t lose coverage. They should expand home care access so older Coloradans and those with disabilities get the care they need without delay. Congress should remove barriers to mental health care, including expanding coverage in Medicare and private insurance, applying the mental health parity requirements to Medicare beneficiaries, and extending Medicare incentive programs to address mental health provider shortages. Congress should also support efforts to end surprise medical bills and stop hospitals from charging additional fees to patients based on the location of that care.

Patients and all Coloradans deserve robust health care protections that help them enjoy full, meaningful lives. Our leaders in Congress should put them ahead of Big Pharma and the insurance industry, not support policies that will ultimately make people sicker.

Dr. Jay Richter is a retired internal medicine specialist in Pueblo

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Republican budget proposal threatens to make Coloradans sicker, poorer