Michigan

Last March I wrote an analysis of H.R.1868, the House Democrats bill that comprises the core of the larger H.R.1884 "ACA 2.0" bill. H.R.1884 includes a suite of about a dozen provisions to protect, repair and strengthen the ACA, but the House Dems also broke the larger piece of legislation down into a dozen smaller bills as well.

Some of these "mini-ACA 2.0" bills only make minor improvements to the law, or make improvements in ways which are important but would take a few years to see obvious results. Others, however, make huge improvements and would be immediately obvious, and of those, the single most dramatic and important one is H.R.1868.

The official title is the "Health Care Affordability Act of 2019", but I just call both it and H.R.1884 (the "Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions and Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2019") by the much simpler and more accurate moniker "ACA 2.0".

A handful of readers may have a vague memory of my attending a healthcare forum here in Oakland County, Michigan last November:

HEALTHCARE TOWN HALL: A PLAN FOR OAKLAND COUNTY

Please join us for a Health Care Forum with Andy Meisner. We will be focusing on the issues and proposed solutions for Oakland County.

November 12th, 6:30pm in Room 218 at West Bloomfield High School, 4925 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield

The larger point of the forum was to highlight a plan which Oakland County Treasurer and County Executive candidate Andy Meisner has been working on for a year now, the "Meisner Plan for Oakland County’s Health, Wellness and Happiness”:

When I listen to people in every part of Oakland County, more than anything I hear concerns about people struggling to afford healthcare and prescription drugs. That’s why I’m proposing the “Meisner Plan” to make healthcare and prescription drugs more affordable and accessible in Oakland County.

via the University of Michigan's Health Policy Student Association:

Feb. 13 Panel on ‘What’s Next in U.S. Health Care?’

The Health Policy Student Association (an IPE student organization) invites all to register for a free  Feb. 13 panel at 4:30 in School of Public Health Room 1755. Panelists include Marianne Udow-Phillips of the Center for Health Research & Transformation, HuffPost correspondent Jonathan Cohn, and ACA analyst Charles Gaba. RSVP requested.

If you're going to be in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area on Thursday, check it out!

For nearly three years now, the Trump Administration and Republican politicians across dozens of states have been claiming that expanding Medicaid to "able-bodied adults" encourages them to be lazy couch potatoes, lying around on their butts just soaking up all that sweet, sweet free healthcare coverage. That's the main excuse they've used to tack on draconian work requirements for Medicaid expansion enrollees: Supposedly doing so goads them into getting off their rumps, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and becoming a Productive Member of Society, etc etc.

Of course, the reality is that most Medicaid expansion enrollees already work, and of those who don't most are already either in school, caring for a child or a medically frail relative, etc etc...meaning that work requirements impose a mountain of burdensome paperwork and reporting requirements in order to "catch" a tiny handful of people who supposedly match the "lazy bum" stereotype...but instead end up kicking thousands of people who are working/in school/etc. off of their coverage because they aren't able to keep up with the reporting requirements.

Note: This isn't limited to Michigan...many of the items listed here could/should be applied in other states as well.

Dear Governor Whitmer & Michigan State House and Senate Members:

If you're familiar with me and this site, you probably know two things about me:

  • 2. Having said that, until universal coverage is feasible at the federal level in one way or another, I strongly believe that it is vitally important to protect, repair and strengthen the Affordable Care Act even if it ends up being replaced by something else in the near future.

Just days after a lawsuit was filed challenging Michigan's impending Medicaid expansion work requirements, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer sent a letter to legislative Republicans urging them to stop throwing good money after bad on a policy which is pretty much doomed to failure anyway:

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said delaying implementation of work requirements for enrollees in Michigan's Medicaid expansion program would prevent the state from potentially wasting at least $1 million.

The Democrat issued a special message to legislative leaders Tuesday, a day after saying the Republican-controlled Legislature should pause the rules taking effect in January.

Whitmer said the state has spent $28 million to implement the workforce engagement requirements and is on track to spend an additional $40 million this fiscal year — an unnecessary expense if a federal judge blocks the rules.

Back in March I wrote an analysis of H.R.1868, the House Democrats bill which comprises the core of the larger H.R.1884 "ACA 2.0" bill. H.R.1884 includes a suite of about a dozen provisions to protect, repair and strengthen the ACA, but the House Dems also broke the larger piece of legislation down into a dozen smaller bills as well.

Some of these "mini-ACA 2.0" bills only make minor improvements to the law, or in ways which are important but would take a few years to see obvious results. Others, however, make huge improvements and would be immediately obvious, and of those, the single most dramatic and important one is H.R.1868.

The official title is the "Health Care Affordability Act of 2019", but I just call both it and H.R.1884 (the "Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions and Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2019") by the much simpler and more accurate moniker "ACA 2.0".

Back in March I wrote an analysis of H.R.1868, the House Democrats bill which comprises the core of the larger H.R.1884 "ACA 2.0" bill. H.R.1884 includes a suite of about a dozen provisions to protect, repair and strengthen the ACA, but the House Dems also broke the larger piece of legislation down into a dozen smaller bills as well.

Some of these "mini-ACA 2.0" bills only make minor improvements to the law, or in ways which are important but would take a few years to see obvious results. Others, however, make huge improvements and would be immediately obvious, and of those, the single most dramatic and important one is H.R.1868.

The official title is the "Health Care Affordability Act of 2019", but I just call both it and H.R.1884 (the "Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions and Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2019") by the much simpler and more accurate moniker "ACA 2.0".

Michigan

As my friend, U of M Law Professor and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sam Bagenstos just noted, this was pretty much inevitable:

BREAKING -- Poverty rights group files suit in federal court against work requirements MI has enacted for those on expanded Medicaid program Healthy Michigan.

— Gongwer News Service (@GongwerMichigan) November 22, 2019

A lawsuit has been filed challenging Michigan's new Medicaid work requirements that take effect Jan. 1. Plaintiffs are 4 people enrolled in the Medicaid expansion program known as Healthy Michigan #MiLeg

— David Eggert (@DavidEggert00) November 22, 2019

Fellow U of M law professor Nicholas Bagley already has the legal complaint itself:

HEALTHCARE TOWN HALL: A PLAN FOR OAKLAND COUNTY

Please join us for a Health Care Forum with Andy Meisner. We will be focusing on the issues and proposed solutions for Oakland County.

November 12th, 6:30pm in Room 218 at West Bloomfield High School, 4925 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield

Panelists include:

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