Congresswoman Renee Ellmers: Important Update on NC Obamacare News

Ellmers says Aetna’s Obamacare departure is a ‘bellwether moment’ for U.S. health care

The nation is in a watershed moment that will decide the future of health care in the U.S. following Aetna’s  announcement earlier this week that it will dramatically scale back its participation in the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) said during a recent interview. 

“I think that is significant, and I think the greater discussion has to be about what this means for the future of Obamacare,” Ellmers told Patient Daily during a telephone interview. “I think this is a bellwether moment, that it is showing, as we have been stating for so long, this is a failure for the American people and a failure for good health care and good health care coverage in this country. And there definitely needs to be a different plan put in place.”
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Aetna was not the first to blame Obamacare for its losses, Ellmers said.

“We’ve seen Blue Cross and Blue Shield has talked about the losses that they’ve inferred,” she said. “United Healthcare has also said the same thing and now Aetna being, again, one of the largest providers of Obamacare exchange plans is now saying the same thing. How many more hits can Obamacare take and still remain in place. That, I think, is the real question.”

Those hits are being keenly felt, Ellmers said, adding that Aetna’s announcement has sent shockwaves through her constituents in North Carolina.

“As far as our constituents that have Aetna health care plans, certainly,” she said. “There are just going to be countless numbers of individuals across the country, obviously, that will be affected by this.”
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Ellmers also referred to a health care plan, the Patient’s Choice Act, proposed earlier this summer by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, and said she thinks Congress has its part to play.

“I think that we in Congress, with the plan that we have already proposed with speaker Ryan, we could move to a better solution to health care coverage in this country,” she said. “I believe that’s the future, if we’re going to save health care coverage for every American and make health care coverage truly affordable for every American but, at the same time, continue to provide good quality health care.”

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