From the office of Congressman Andy Harris:
Reality of Higher Costs Under Obamacare Puts 13,000 Marylanders at Risk
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. released the following statement regarding news that Aetna will not be providing health insurance in Maryland’s exchange. The reality of higher costs under Obamacare is putting 13,000 Marylanders with Aetna insurance at risk. Despite higher premiums announced last week by the Maryland Insurance Administration, Aetna would still have operated at a loss if they participated in Maryland’s exchange.
“Today’s decision by Aetna to withdraw from Maryland’s exchange is another example that Obamacare is bad medicine for Maryland,” said Harris. “It’s telling that an average 25% increase in premiums is not enough to make the Obamacare train wreck work. Despite promises by President Obama and others that this law would lead to lower premiums and greater access to care, the exact opposite is turning out to be true – Marylanders will be paying more and having fewer choices. It is time for the President to accept Obamacare’s failures and join House Republicans to implement health reforms that are patient-centered, lower costs, and improve access for all Americans.”
Congressman Harris,
You are casting your pearls before swine. If President Obama said Obamacare is wonderful and will result in more people being insured for less money then it must be true. I don’t care what the facts are, if the President says it then it must be true. That would be if he says it NOW and not earlier in his political career. After all, before he became President he was a Senator and senators never lie, and before that he was a law professor and a friend of Skip Gates, and before that an attorney.
Wait, that didn’t turn out right.
Anyway, the unions that supported Obamacare and his election campaign but now want no parts of Obamacare? Well thy are just morons. President Obama needs to get Pelosi to call them and explain it to them. Or maybe she can get them a waiver since she is the Waiver Queen. I wonder if she has actually read the law yet. Probably not since she is so busy helping her supporters and campaign contributors get exempt from the requirements.
Please excuse Judy. She gets all of those facts in her head and then she has trouble believing anything this Administration says.
Clearly sarcasm is lost upon you.
Actually Blue Hen it was lost on you. Alex gets it.
What is Andy Harris’ plan for providing at least a minimum of health insurance for every working American? We don’t know. He won’t tell us. His plan is so good, he won’t share it.
Neither he nor President Obama have a plan that does that.
We’ve had the Affordable Care Act for a few years now and the number of uninsured people in the US has decreased. The Act has it’s flaws, some quite noticeable and worth acting on. What Harris keeps proposing is that instead of fixing the law to make it more to his liking, we should simply repeal it and go back to higher levels of uninsured people. At that point, it sounds like his plan, whatever that may be, will spring into action. I might be more persuaded if he shared the plan in advance.
Yes, I’d rather go with a bad plan than no plan whatsoever.
That’s not accurate. We have not “had the Affordable Care Act for a few years now.” The law does not even take effect until 2014, and certain provisions have been postponed by the Administration itself because of the deleterious effects they will have on the economy and job creation.
Patrick Henry – parts of the Affordable Care Act were implemented in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Yes, you are correct in that other parts will be implemented later. My statement remains accurate.
Jaguar Judy – You seem to be mistaking me for a supporter of Progressive politics. I am not. I would like to see a mainstream Republican represent the 1st District over a populist like Harris. It isn’t about liking the man. He is clearly in over his head and we deserve a fiscally conservative leader, rather than a populist provocateur.
Well you got your bad plan and I hope you enjoy it.
Most of Obama’s supporters in the government and the unions want no part of it. I will be more of a believer when every union member and every member of Congress and every member of the executive and judicial branch is part of it and not the exception to it. All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
Sorry you don’t like Congressman Harris. Too bad for you. But the majority of people in his district like him very much. Maybe you could get Obama to pardon Wendy Rosen and then the Dem/Libs could nominate her again.
Harris is too busy worrying about himself and his family (remember the stink he raised on the first day of his Congressional orientation). I don’t know why he’s so worried: he can always go back to being our local friendly anesthesiologist and charge higher fees than the surgeons, and also collect the pensions that will come to him as a member of the General Assembly and the House of Representatives. Am I the only voter who has a hard time thinking of him a the “doctor”
he likes to emphasize.
Based on my experience with Aetna I say good riddance. I have had Aetna both privately and through an employer and the experience was terrible. From arguing with agents regarding preexisting conditions (apparently having a sinus infection more than once in one year is considered preexisting) to having to resubmit claims repeatedly until they were finally accepted, Aetna is Big Insurance through and through. Again, good riddance.
Aetna was terrible insurance anyway before the ACHA ever came to be. They denied a drug my mother was taking because she was at high risk for breast cancer and months after she had to go off the medicine, she developed the disease. I can’t say for sure whether the cancer wouldn’t have come anyway but we both feel it was a major factor. Luckily she no longer has them. I’ve heard so many complaints about Aetna, so this decision really doesn’t make a case for Harris’ claims.