Press Staff Blog

Make no mistake, as health insurers set prices for 2018 coverage, the uncertainty caused by President Trump and Congressional Republicans is having an impact on consumers. A new Kaiser Family Foundation study out today shows that Americans will face higher costs, thanks to GOP efforts to undermine the law.

While President Trump is playing games with cost sharing reduction payments, insurance commissioners are becoming increasingly frustrated by what the uncertainty means for consumers: higher costs and loss of coverage. There will be no doubt who is at fault for those consequences if the White House fails to make these payments at the end of the month. Republicans own the health care system and will be held responsible for any changes that Americans see. It’s in their best interest to uphold their commitment under law to make the payments.

Health care, tax reform, passing a budget, funding the government, paying our nation’s bills… on issue after issue, Republicans are deeply divided. For the past seven months, they’ve pursued partisanship and it has yielded virtually no legislative accomplishments.  So now they have a choice: continue this failed strategy or work with Democrats to address our fiscal challenges and ensure access to affordable health care. Here’s to hoping that they’ll choose the latter after five weeks of hearing from constituents who are fed up with their division and dysfunction.

It's not just Democrats who oppose Scott Garrett's nomination to lead the Export-Import Bank, the very agency that Garrett voted to shut down and sought to dismantle. Senate Republicans and the business community are also opposing the nomination.

Today, at an event announcing his latest anti-immigrant plan, President Trump went on another tangent about his prowess in guiding the stock market to new highs—but he left out some important context. Thanks to our friends at Axios, here is a look at how the S&P 500 fared during each President's first six months in office. Take a look here:

While it may be the middle of the night, the Congressional Budget Office is here to help us shine a light on the harmful effects of Skinny Repeal:

• 15 million Americans kicked off health insurance by January of 2018
• 40% of those losing coverage - 6 million Americans - will be losing their employer-based coverage

Hey Senate GOP, the American Medical Association has a stern warning for you. The Skinny Repeal bill? (You know, the one you *just* released text of, and are voting on two hours later?) Well, doctors are awake too, and they have thoughts. Here is the AMA's latest statement:

As Senate Republicans prepare to vote on their “skinny repeal” plan, just a quick reminder that there have been no hearings, no mark-up, and no opportunity for the public to review the legislation (or, really, even Senators for that matter, since the text was only just released...). So, we’re just going to leave these right here…