Washington, D.C. – Protect Our Care today is launching “Rate Watch,” an educational campaign that will highlight how Republican health care sabotage is forcing up health care costs across the country through a coordinated earned and paid media effort and a flagship website. Recently, President Trump’s former HHS Secretary admitted that the GOP agenda is raising premiums, and a wide range of experts project that health care sabotage will raise 2019 premiums by double digits.
“Families in every state in the nation are scared by the fallout of Washington Republicans’ repeal-and-sabotage war on health care, and with Rate Watch, we’re holding Republicans responsible for what they’ve done. Every health care expert is confirming what ex-Secretary Tom Price just admitted: Republicans are responsible for hiking people’s premiums. Republicans gave record-breaking tax breaks to health insurance and drug companies and now they’re sabotaging the health care system, letting those companies raise rates and profit even more,” said Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse.
“On his first day in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order to undermine the health care system – no matter the consequences – and he’s been rooting for it to fail ever since. Now, people who work for a living are going to pay the price. Their latest sabotage scheme is these junk plans that discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions and cover almost nothing. As long as Republicans refuse to stop repeal and sabotage, they bear full responsibility for the costs working people have to pay. ”
This morning, leading health care voices, including Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), held a press conference call with reporters and advocates to outline the new program, which will educate the public, stakeholders, and press in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. about the factors at play as insurance companies file preliminary individual market rates.
Check out the new Rate Watch website here.
Over the past week, Protect Our Care has highlighted insurance companies’ own statements about how Republican sabotage is raising rates in Virginia, Maryland, and Vermont, the first three states to announce proposed premiums for 2019.