U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D. MA) was speaking to the consumer advocacy group Families USA today about the need to play more offense with health care after playing defense all year for the Affordable Care Act:
“We need to do more than play defense,” said Warren, 68, a possible 2020 Democratic presidential contender. “I believe it is time for us to go on offense.”
“I endorsed [Sen.] Bernie Sanders’s [I-Vt.] 'Medicare for all'” bill, Warren said, but she did not focus on single-payer.
She pointed to other options for expanding ObamaCare as well, such as creating a public health insurance option, or allowing people to buy into Medicaid, as Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has proposed.
“I am glad to see us put a lot of different options on the table,” she said.
After a year where Democrats and health insurance companies were often aligned in fighting Republican ObamaCare repeal efforts, Warren attacked insurance companies in sharp terms.
“For too long giant insurance companies have pretty much run the show,” she said.
Speaking of ObamaCare, she said: “We need to build on that progress and do more to hold America’s insurance companies accountable.”
Warren has a three point plant to hold health insurance companies accountable:
Warren’s speech laid out a three-part plan to rein in insurance companies: Crack down on the practice of shifting costs onto consumers; force private insurers to provide coverage as affordable as Medicare and Medicaid; and “call their bluff” if they resist complying with the first two planks.
For the first component, Warren would forbid insurance practices that she dubbed “cheat[ing] people,” including drawing narrow boundaries for the network of health care providers they cover and rescinding coverage of certain drugs in the middle of the year.
In the second part, Warren would subject private insurers to stricter cost and quality guidelines in order to achieve parity with Medicare and Medicaid. The senator noted that Medicare and Medicaid provide better value to consumers, covering 84 cents for every dollar of health costs, compared to private exchange plans, which tend to cover 60 to 70 cents for every dollar of costs.
The third plank, which is effectively Warren’s enforcement mechanism, is likely the most innovative idea.
Borrowing from a model already in place in New York, Warren proposes requiring private insurers that bid on Medicare Advantage or Medicaid contracts to participate in the ACA exchanges.
Private insurers have frequently lost money on their ACA exchange plans, but they’ve profited handsomely from their participation in Medicaid and Medicare Advantage.
“If they want to bid on the really juicy federal health care contracts, they should have to offer a basic private insurance plan for individuals as well, even if those exchange plans aren’t quite as juicy for their investors,” Warren said. “And if some insurance companies really, truly aren’t willing to provide high-quality, affordable coverage in exchange for billions of dollars in federal subsidies and access to Medicare and Medicaid ― if they really, truly want to pick up their toys and go home because their bazillion-dollar profits aren’t high enough ― then I say good riddance.”
For more information about her plan, click here to contact Warren’s office.
And click here to donate and get involved with Warren’s re-election campaign.
