Magaziner Joins Health Care Workers to Discuss Health Care Affordability Crisis and Government Shutdown
PROVIDENCE, RI — Today, U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02) joined Rhode Island health care workers to highlight the emerging health care affordability crisis, which is driving up insurance premiums for patients and straining hospital budgets.
During the event, Magaziner joined doctors and representatives from HealthSource RI to discuss the devastating impact that expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits and deep Medicaid cuts will have on hospitals, health care workers, and patients.
View or download photos from the event here.
“Health care costs are skyrocketing,” said Magaziner. “It is time for Republicans in Congress to stop playing political games and extend Affordable Care Act funding, because every day people cannot afford to have their health insurance costs go up by thousands of dollars a year.”
“The shutdown is already hurting Rhode Islanders, but the consequences will be far greater if ACA subsidies disappear. We share Congressman Magaziner’s concern that losing this support would devastate families and further strain an already fragile health care system,” said Michael Migliori, MD, Chair Rhode Island Medical Society Public Laws Committee.
“Today we are just four days from the start of Open Enrollment, when the grim reality of the APTC expiration coupled with rate increases will hit tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders who purchase health coverage through the state marketplace,” said HealthSource RI Director Lindsay Lang. “Without action on these tax credits, we will all soon begin to see the effects of rising uninsurance, with sicker patients, strained emergency departments, and a cycle of further elevated costs. Keeping the 13,000 or more Rhode Islanders at risk connected to coverage protects not just them, but every Rhode Islander who relies on our fragile healthcare system.”
The event comes just before Magaziner is scheduled to return to Washington, D.C., to fight in Congress to include critical health care funding in the federal budget and end the federal government shutdown. The shutdown coincides with the pending expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits that help more than 40,000 Rhode Islanders afford their coverage.
Speakers will call for Congress to extend these vital tax credits and reverse nearly $1 trillion in Republican-led Medicaid cuts passed in July. Despite these urgent challenges, Speaker Mike Johnson has not held a vote in the House since September 19.
With open enrollment for HealthSource RI set to begin on November 1, Magaziner and local health care workers outlined the devastating impacts that budget cuts would have on both patients and providers in Rhode Island.