WASHINGTON >> Once again, the clock is ticking on the fate of the President Donald Trump’s push to repeal the Affordable Care Act — and California’s 14 Republican members of Congress will be key in deciding its success or failure in the coming days.
At least nine of the state’s House GOP members have not publicly endorsed the latest version of the American Health Care Act, as the repeal law is called.
A major sticking point for many had been concerns that the bill didn’t adequately cover the GOP’s vow to protect people with pre-existing conditions — more than 27 percent of the American population.
But a last-minute amendment negotiated Tuesday night by two prominent GOP congressmen — one from Michigan the other from Missouri — now adds $8 billion over five years to help pay for insurance for Americans with pre-existing conditions, and is likely to change some “no” votes to “yes.”
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, continues to press for the health care law’s repeal, along with U.S. Reps. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel; Devin Nunes, R-Tulare; and Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, still hasn’t made a decision, according to his spokeswoman, nor has he reviewed the latest amendment.
Denham, after all, has something else to consider: After winning his 2016 re-election bid by fewer than 5 percentage points, he is now facing a new challenger from the Bay Area.
Josh Harder, a venture capital investor at Bessemer Venture Partners in San Francisco who has worked in tech and cybersecurity investments, announced his candidacy for Denham’s Central Valley seat on Tuesday. Harder, 30, has strong connections in Silicon Valley’s VC industry, which could help him mount a well-funded challenge to Denham.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, remains undecided, a spokesman said Wednesday, while sources says U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, also has not made up his mind yet.
That’s also the case with U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Auburn, said spokesman Parker Williams.
“We’re seeing some changes being made currently,” Williams said. “Once we actually see a bill on the floor, we’ll have an update there.” But he noted that his boss still “has a lot of concerns across the board right now.”
His concerns are well-founded: California is among the states that most successfully implemented the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
President Barack Obama’s 2010 signature health care law has helped to provide insurance to 24 million Americans, including 5 million Californians, most of them through a provision in the law that expands Medicaid, the health care program for the poor that is jointly funded by the states and the federal government.
Riding on the triumphant wave of President Donald Trump, who promised to repeal the law, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives tried in March to overturn it, only to suffer an embarrassing loss when it failed to deliver enough votes to do so. To win this time, the House cannot lose more than 23 votes among its 238 members.
But California health care advocates, who oppose the repeal on several fronts, warn that $8 billion is drop in the bucket and won’t cover much for many of those affected.
“It does little to solve the problem,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a nonprofit health care advocacy group.
“Just do the math: Eight billion over five years over 50 states. California is about one-tenth of the nation, so $800 million over five years is less than $200 million a year. That’s very little money overall.”
Moreover, he said, California has already dealt with such high-risk pools, “and it didn’t go well,” Wright said.
He and others, including the Oakland-based California Health Care Foundation, point to its unsuccessful history in the Golden State.
From its start in 1991, California’s Major Risk Medical Insurance Program was plagued by long waiting lists, exorbitant premiums, low annual and lifetime benefit caps, coverage exclusions for pre-existing conditions and limited participation of health insurance carriers, according to a report from the California-based Insure the Uninsured Project.
There’s more: In 2001, more than 7,000 Californians lingered on the MRMIP waiting list, a waiting list made necessary because of capped state funding and high demand. Even at its highpoint in 1998, the program served nearly 22,000 — far less than the estimated 360,000 Californians that may have been eligible for MRMIP coverage.
Bottom line, according to the report: “Returning to high-risk pools as separate coverage programs for those with pre-existing health conditions would be a dramatic step backward, as California’s history demonstrates.”
Plenty of angry constituents worried about losing their plans have been and this week continue to stage protests in front of the offices of Republican California congressional members, Wright said.
And on Sunday, in conjunction with MoveOn.org, advocates organized to have airplanes fly over key GOP offices around the country, including the offices of three California congressmen: Rohrabacher, David Valadao, R-Hanford, and Steve Knight, R-Lancaster.
