***NEWS RELEASE***
For Immediate Release December 1, 2016
CONTACT:
Beth Harrison, Hamilton Strategies, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, or Deborah Hamilton, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, ext. 102
Now Is the Time to Repeal
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom: First, Use Tom Price’s 56-Word Repeal Language for Full Repeal of Obamacare, Then Determine Replacement Options
ST. PAUL, Minn.—In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this week, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said that an Obamacare repeal-and-replace will be the “first thing out of the gate” once President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated and Congress returns in January.
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org), a national health freedom and patient advocacy organization, has an important suggestion for this potentially complicated process.
First repeal. Then replace.
“To repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act or squabble over which portions are flawed, simply put, wastes time in restoring health freedom and affordability to patients everywhere and returning health care policy decisions to the states, where they constitutionally belong,” said Twila Brase, president and co-founder of CCHF. “We now have a president-elect who will sign a straight repeal bill, and our elected officials must act on this opportunity. When Congress is back in session, repeal is as simple as a one-page bill. If Democrats want to stand up in a filibuster to defend Obamacare, it will be interesting for the American people suffering under the law to hear their arguments 24 hours a day.
“Now is the time for full repeal,” Brase continued. “Then, and only then, can we talk about the next steps and what lies ahead for health care down the road. There was life before Obamacare. There was care and coverage before Obamacare—at a much more affordable price. Obamacare not only made care and coverage more expensive, it took away choices and the charity that many people relied on, including people who didn’t want to participate in Medicaid. Costs, care and coverage will become better for the insured, uninsured and publicly subsidized once the so-called Affordable Care Act is repealed.”
Brase also points to H.R. 3200, the “Empowering Patients First Act” from U.S. Rep. Tom Price, the newly tapped Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Trump administration.
“Tom Price had repeal right in H.R. 3200,” Brase said. “In just 56 words in Section 2, the entire Affordable Care Act would be wiped away and lawmakers who truly have patients in mind could start fresh—‘as if the Act had not been enacted,’ as the bill reads. For more than five years, CCHF has been calling for the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, rather than replacing it with another federal plan that is bogged down with federal controls and does not return health freedom to patients and doctors. And now, the possibility for repeal is within reach.”
Page four of Price’s proposed bill, which could be reintroduced as soon as Congress is back in session in January, provides for the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as well as health care-related provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA) of 2010, a controversial budget amendment to the Affordable Care Act.
Pence also told Fox News that Price’s nomination is “very exciting and [it] should be a source of great encouragement to millions of Americans who know we’ve got to repeal Obamacare, but we’ve [also] got to replace it with real solutions. … We don’t want any American to be anxious about a transition, it will be an orderly transition … but we’ll be working toward a solution that’s grounded in the principles of free market economics and respect for the doctor-patient relationship.”
Brase added that many who are uninsured, considering enrollment or thinking about reenrollment may be in flux as they hear news about an Obamacare repeal or a replacement. Technically, Brase said, the government wants patients covered by Dec. 15, but Americans can take a “wait-and-see” strategy until immediately after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. For those who may choose to enroll by the Jan. 31 open enrollment deadline, coverage won’t begin for two weeks. Notably, penalties for being uninsured are prorated over 12 months, excluding the first two consecutive months of being uninsured. Additionally, penalties can be taken only from any federal tax refund Americans may be expecting.
CCHF recently launched The Wedge of Health Freedom (www.JointheWedge.com) to transform the entire health care system back to freedom, affordability and simplicity, starting with practices where third-party-free doctors that have said ‘no’ to costly and restrictive insurance contracts and government regulations. These Wedge practices, which are located in about 40 states, can be found online in a “map of freedom,” which displays the locations of doctors and other practitioners around the country where patients can find affordable, confidential, patient-centered care.
CCHF is a national patient-centered health freedom organization existing to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. For more information about CCHF, visit its web site at www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page or its Twitter feed @CCHFreedom. For more about The Wedge of Health Freedom, visit www.JointheWedge.com, The Wedge Facebook page or follow The Wedge on Twitter @wedgeoffreedom.
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Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn., exists to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. CCHF sponsors the daily, 60-second radio feature, “Health Freedom Minute,” which airs on nearly 800 stations nationwide, including nearly 200 American Family Radio and 100 on the Bott radio network. Listeners can learn more about the agenda behind health care initiatives and steps they can take to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy. For information on how to add “Health Freedom Minute” to a station lineup, contact Michael Hamilton at mhamilton@hamiltonstrategies.com, (610) 584-1096 or (215) 519-4838.
CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase, R.N., has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” A public health nurse, Brase has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, Politico, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. She is at the forefront of informing the public of crucial health issues, such as the importance of patient privacy and informed consent, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine,” “population health” and “pay for performance” and the implications of state and federal health care reform on patient choice and patient access to care.
For more information or to interview Twila Brase of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, contact Beth Harrison at 610-584-1096 x104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com or Deborah Hamilton at 215-815-7716 or 610-584-1096 x102.
