Potential improvements to the healthcarere law. This is two hours. Thank you for joining us today. We are holding a this hearing virtually. Before we turn to todays topic they help you navigate the virtual narrative and first consistent with regulations, the committee would keep microphones muted. Members are responsible when they seek recognition or when recognized. Second members must have their cameras on at all times. If you need to step away from the proceedings, please leave camera on rather than loggingat out. Third, we will dispense with our practice of observing and instead go in order of seniority alternating between majority and minority beginning with members of the oversight subcommittee first. Finally, without objection, the representative is authorized to serve as the chair in the event that i have some technical difficulties or whatever. Ive thin thank you all for your continued patience as we navigate this technology in order to continue serving our country together in this great time of need. And with that i will now turn to the important topic of todays hearing. Maximizing Health Coverage and administration sabotage. Sounds like a movie. So, good morning everyone. Today we will focus on access to Health Coverage in the Trump Administration continues unconscionable sabotage of americans care. Since its passage over a decade ago, Republican Leaders have treated the destruction of the Affordable Care act. Since 2011 neither side has voted more than 70 times to eliminateth the aca. 2017 they even held an Outdoor Party at the white house with a plan thatr would cause millions to lose their healthcare coverage. That same year, one of the greatest abuses of power in the dead of night republicans amended the aca and remaking one sixth of the american economyann a bill they introduced hours earlier. The president recently bragged about his healthcare. Of course he has great coverage paid for by all of us, the same taxpayers that saved the protection. They are not going to let up. I want to remind everyone in court right now demanding to destroy the aca. The administration is fighting to remove Healthcare Programs and protections for millions in a pandemic. Using virtually every tool to dismantle thea healthcare syst. They have greenlight plans without any protections and proposed a rule to prevent women from having access to Reproductive Healthcare and theyve gutted funding for navigators and assistance while failing to crush the aca, they are destabilizing the American Healthcare system. The administration has gone out of its way to prevent americans from getting and maintaining coverage between february and may of this year, 21. 9 million workers lost their jobs. Of these workers, 5. 4 million became uninsured due to job loss. In march i joined my colleagues to help the subcommittee chairman and nearly 100 house members calling for a special Enrollment Period for people to seek marketplace coverage during the pandemic. Even during the pandemic, hhs refused likely making Many Americans suffer. No other word i can think of except sabotage. When you see my administration and friends across the aisle swearr they support protections for preexisting conditions they assert with a straight face while spending ten years packing the aca. Repeat the republicans have sought to remove preexisting conditions over and over and over. Its onn the record. States are working hard to expand access to coverage. One of them is the great state of new jersey. In new jersey and colorado we will discuss how they are making a besit best work for their cit. As Senate Republicans race to confirm a new justice they are downplaying their challenge to the aca. If the republicans have changed their mind onwh the aca why wont they join us in defending the law. When we voted in june to protect, 177 of 179 republicans opposed it. If you dont have a calculator handy that is 99 . Given a chance 99 of our colleagues across the aisle voted against protecting preexisting conditions. We know why. A few short weeks the Supreme Court will hear the aca case. The future of the Healthcare System hangs in the balance. And i want to yield now to my good friend the Ranking Member from pennsylvania and we will keep things to five minutes because we saw what happened last time. We went over. We talk too much. [laughter] thank you for holding the hearing. This is a tough time [inaudible] theres been nothing more devastating iner our time than e china flu and during this time the cost of healthcare undermined so i appreciate the opportunity to discuss the issues today. Far from being perfect, our Healthcare System is the best in the world and with a hearing like this im reminded of how fortunate we are to live in a country with access to the most innovative healthcare ontr the planet and i hope we can use this hearing to put things in perspective and correct some of the myths about the healthcareto we have been gearing up to have a hearing on on the campaign trail. Today i want to talk about two things, First Successful healthcare policy developments we have achieved over the last couple of years and second, to correct the record on some of the rhetoric weve been hearing about American Healthcare. A lotan of the rhetoric seems designed to scaream the American People in advance of an election and i think that effort is unfortunate and misleading. The idea that this administration has sought to sabotage the Healthcare System if thats the truth this is the worst sabotage the world has seen. I cant look at this and say come on if we are really going to fix this lets fix it and not talk about things that sound good on the campaign trail but all of us when it comes to truth. Weve made progress on stabilizing the aca. Insurance premiums are down, coverage is up and enrollment is stable so this administration has made many strides to see more affordable healthcare s tions for americans who may not want, need or be able to afford some of the Coverage Plan so im pleased we have chris with us today to speak to some of these successes including the restoration of shortterm Healthcare Plans and enhancements to help reimbursements. These crucial events and reforms haveve provided options letting them choose what is best for them emphasizing, letting them choose whats best for them and not having something shoved down their throat they dont have a choice in. Lets remember by getting rid of the a individual mandate we save lower and middle income taxpayers and nearly 95 a year and that is huge when you look at that group of people. They tried to block the efforts and i understand why and use the scare tactics to stop the progress of the administration. Like saying republicans would eliminate coverage for people with preexisting conditions which couldnt be further from the truth and pretending preexisting conditions democrats want to take yes for an answer. It makes no sense to me but thats where we are at. The first legislation offered by republicans in the 116th Congress Said no one and, i mean, no one should be charged more or denied coverage based on their preexisting conditions. Democrats objected that offered to try to serve it as an election issue so any suggestions to that it is just flatout wrongnd and a miscarrie of the truth. Meanwhile instead of working together on bipartisan efforts to improve the health care system, 118 democrats have cosponsored medicarear for all this new and enormous program would destroy the current Healthcare System starting with the repeal of the Affordable Care act. Many democrats simply want an unpopular partisan government takeover of healthcare when we should be working together for coverage for everybody, to get more options to the american opople. This onesizefitsall approach is wrong and doesnt make sense to anybody other than somebody trying to push an agenda the wrong way. The plans that would take away choice from hardworking americans in my district would also destroy their Healthcare Options. The Affordable Care act much of the law has changed over the last ten years. Yet democrats keep looking to the past rather than working together to improve the future but we can build on recent successes and healthcare policies by continuing to bring down premium prices and increase coverage choices for all americans. Increasing the number of options available and people can actually buy something that fit their needs. I hope we can stop the fear mongering and come together in the future to work on bipartisan support to improve the lives of our constituents. Mr. Chairman i want to thank you for holding thisti hearing and alsot want to thank the paneliss were taking time out of their lives to come and talk with us. S thank you and i will yield ba. I would say to you and all of the democrats and republicans who were at the last hearing i thought of going ove going overg after the hearing tremendous questions from both sides of the aisle on the subject of tax fairness. Its tough to get people together before an election but i want to complement both sides for what i think was a spectacular job. Next we will hear from the panel. And thank you to the distinguished witnesses for taking the time to appear before us today. To discuss this very important issue. I will introduce the witnesses and then turn to each of them for their testimony. First witness commissioner marlene, the commissioner leading the new Jersey Department of banking and insurance. Previously she was a member of the new jersey General Assembly representing the 36th legislative district. The next witness is Kevin Patterson. Mr. Patterson has served as the chief executive officer of contact for Health Colorado since april of 2015 and has a long history of Public Service including as interim chief of staff to governor john hagan hagan mr. Slavitt serves as the mr. Pope serves as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute of the research focuses on healthcare, payment policy and Insurance Market reform. Each of your statements will be made a part of the record in its entirety. I would ask you summarize your testimony in five minutes or less. To help you at this time, please keep an eye on the clock that should be on your screen. If you go over your time i will notify you with the tap my gavel. Commissioner, you may begin. Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, chairman pascrell, Ranking Member and members of the committee. As mentioned by the chair man, my name is marlene and i am thee commissioner of the new Jersey Department of banking and insurance and we regulate the banking an insurance and Real Estate Industries and operate cover new jersey, the states official marketplace that launched this month. Under the leadership of the governor, new jersey has led in protecting the Affordable Care act, stabilizing its Insurance Market and increasing access to coverage based on the guiding principle that healthcare is a right. The state has moved in a deliberate way towards where we are today opening the states exchange making coverage more accessible and affordable for the residents and providing more financial help than ever before for those purchasing coverage on the marketplace in this open enrollment. In 2018 the state enacted two major policies. First in the nation actions to continue the requirement to have coverage after its elimination from the federal level and we implemented a Reinsurance Program beginning with plan year 2019 to cover highcost claims, reduce the rates in the individual market. They resulted in Health Insurance rates and the individual market that were 22 lower than they would have otherwise been. The state decided to establish its own marketplace and wanted to better secure access to affordable coverage for the residents. The fact is while we have been sending funds to washington for the use of the federal marketplace, we continue to see policies enacted that threaten the progress made by the Affordable Care act and made our work more challenging. From 2017 to 2018, enrollment in the individual market dropped for the First Time Since 2014 and continued to drop the following year. When new jersey took control of outreach and enrollment assistance in 2020 as a statebased exchange on the federal platform began to reverseng the trend. Get covered new jersey will perform on november 1st and keep more than 50 million in the state to spend in the marketplace. Residents will see benefits that include subsidies on tops of premium tax credits. The estimated average subsidy for an individual would be at least 578 a year, and at least 2,313 a year for a family of four. The average net monthly premium for those eligible for Financial Health is estimated at 117 a month for 2021 compared to 164 a month in 2020. Increased navigators to provide free enrollment assistance with 3. 5 million in funding 16 navigators up from one under the federal government in 2019, three months to enroll compared to a six week window under the federal government and residents will also benefit from our ability to respond to the needs of the state with a special Enrollment Period for covid19 and quality of pregnancy that improves Maternal Health which has been a focus of this committee as well as the committee of new jersey. We have taken deliberate progressive steps to stabilize our market and improve access to coverage all leading to the establishment of the marketplace to this open Enrollment Period beginning november 1st. With the Public Health emergency we are facing, we believe there is no better time than now to make this t transition. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you and your panel. Commissioner, i am honored to see you again. You happen to live in my district, right . Thats correct. Our next witness is Kevin Patterson who served as the chief executive officer of connect h for colorado since apl of 2015 and of course he was an interim chief of staff to governor hickenlooper. Thank you mr. Chairman and subcommittee members for the opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the Insurance Exchange in colorado and the people that rely on getting coverage through the individual market. My name is Kevin Patterson and im the ceo for connect Health Colorado. Our mission is to increase quality and choice for ilindividuals, families and smal employers purchasing Health Insurance. Im proud of the innovation and collaboration in the state to reduce the uninsured rate and increase enrollment. Im pleased to share more today about the achievement in the marketplace and how thisas uniqe position allows us to expand coverage to the people of colorado. Since we opened for businessdo n 2013he weve helped hundreds of thousands get the coverage t thy need to protect their health and livelihood however increasing access to affordable healthcare and choice started years before the passage of the Affordable Care act. In 2006 a Bipartisan Group of lawmakers created a commission to study models for comprehensive reforms under the republican governor with the passage of the aca in march of 2010 our state Legislature Passed a bill creating the benefit exchange as a public nonprofit entities that has a Bipartisan LegislationOversight Committee. Board members are appointed by the governor both democratic and republican members of the legislature. Connect for Health Colorados ceo in 2015 when the states uninsured rate reached a record 6. 7 one of the lowest in the country. Charged with further increasing access and readability and the rechoice for residents i knew we had to prioritize meeting people where they are so whether im having a conversation with a single mother in denver or farmer on the Eastern Plains i and the rest of my team are listening and learning from colorado about Viable Solutions for accessing health care in their community. Generally every fall i visit many communities around the state to hear from them and share the upcoming open Enrollment Period. This year these challenges of the facetoface visits are having the conversations virtually. Im thankful for the opportunity toan see our partners, Community Leaders and policymakers outside of denver. We funded the program or what we call the Assistance Networ