Sykes: “I’m glad to see that the President is taking this seriously, but also we’re a bit concerned about where these funds are coming from or how long they will last. It would be a much cleaner, easier thing to pass the Pay Our Military Act that we attempted to get passed on Friday, rather than this short sighted action from the President.”
“I would just encourage Speaker Johnson to bring us back. My bill is bipartisan. This is something that people on both sides of the aisle agree with, and then they need to also start dealing with this health care crisis and lowering costs for the American people.”
Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Sometimes the fish rots from the head.’ Rep. Emilia Sykes shares her shutdown frustration
- Congresswoman Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, said Oct. 14 she not only worries about the 29,000 people in the 13th District who rely on tax credits to help pay for their insurance through ACA exchanges, but for the health care system overall, including those insured by their employers.
- She’s also worried about the federal workers in her district who are either not being paid or are furloughed as the partial government shutdown hit its 14th day with no resolution in sight.
- On Oct. 14, she split her time between Akron and Washington, D.C., where she’s part of a bipartisan caucus looking for solutions.
- The government shutdown is a fight over health care and expiring tax credits that people use to buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
- Sykes said she not only worries about the 29,000 people in the 13th District who rely on those tax credits, but for the health care system overall, including those who get health insurance through their employers.
- A 60-year-old couple who live in the 13th District and earn $82,800 per year, for example, would see their ACA health premiums skyrocket by $14,532 annually, according to Keep Americans Covered, a coalition of major health care groups.
- A family of four in Sykes’ district (two adults aged 45 and two children, ages 10 and 15) earning $64,000 a year would see their premiums rise $2,571, the group said.
- Sykes said those ACA price increases will set off a chain reaction of negative consequences in health care for everyone.
- Without ACA tax credits, fewer people will be able to afford insurance and some insurers – like Aetna in Ohio – will no longer provide ACA coverage, Sykes said.
- “That means everyone’s costs will go up,” Sykes said, no matter how they get health insurance.
- That means hospital systems like Summa and Aultman – the largest employers in Summit and Stark counties – will be looking for ways to cut costs.
- “I’m thinking about jobs … not just inside the hospitals,” Sykes said. The impact could reach all businesses connected to the hospitals, everything from toilet paper suppliers to contractors, she said.
- She dismissed President Donald Trump’s claim to have a “concept of a plan” to replace the ACA subsidies.
- “We need concrete plans,” she said. “You can’t just take people’s health care away with nothing to replace it.”
- Speaker Johnson on Oct. 14 said he would not call back the House until the government shutdown ended, but Sykes said she was heading back to D.C. anyway as part of the “Problem Solver Caucus,” a bipartisan group of House lawmakers looking for solutions.
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