{"id":2665,"date":"2018-05-31T14:42:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T14:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/democrats.org\/blog\/2018\/05\/31\/democrats-increase-access-to-health-care-coverage\/"},"modified":"2018-05-31T14:42:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T14:42:00","slug":"democrats-increase-access-to-health-care-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/democrats-increase-access-to-health-care-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Increase Access To Health Care Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Health care is a top priority for voters. As Trump and Republicans continue their health care sabotage, Democrats are fighting to expand Medicaid and increase access to health care coverage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Americans&rsquo; top concern is the availability and affordability of health care, and it was a top priority for Virginia voters in last year&rsquo;s elections.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/380249-healthcare-tops-list-of-americans-worries-poll&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1527863490649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNExR0-haAtg394VEvdh38pzee6EMw\" href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/380249-healthcare-tops-list-of-americans-worries-poll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Hill<\/a>: &ldquo;A majority of Americans say issues surrounding health care is a top concern for them, according to a new Gallup poll.<strong>Fifty-five percent of those polled said they worry &lsquo;a great deal&rsquo; about the cost and availability of health care in the U.S.<\/strong>, while 23 percent said they worry about the issue &lsquo;a fair amount.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/card\/early-exit-polls-health-care-most-important-issue-virginia-voters-n818691&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1527863490649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGfjmvSskkaZ8UaD86kO3sf6fVZ-g\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/card\/early-exit-polls-health-care-most-important-issue-virginia-voters-n818691\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NBC News<\/a>: &ldquo;<strong>Health care is a priority for Virginia voters<\/strong>, according to early results from the NBC News exit poll, with 37 percent citing it as the most important issue to their vote.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Virginia lawmakers approved Medicaid expansion to roughly 400,000 low-income Virginians, after Democrats campaigned heavily on the issue and made unexpectedly large gains last November.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/wireStory\/gridlock-virginia-lawmakers-approve-medicaid-expansion-55551809&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1527863490649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTb8kQKdObW5BjBxQMfmrLXCxa9A\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/wireStory\/gridlock-virginia-lawmakers-approve-medicaid-expansion-55551809\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ABC News<\/a>: &ldquo;<strong>Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam&#39;s expected signature should enable roughly 400,000 newly eligible low-income Virginias<\/strong>&nbsp;to begin enrolling in Medicaid at the start of next year. [&#8230;] But&nbsp;<strong>Republicans took notice when Democrats campaigned heavily on expanding Medicaid last year and made unexpectedly large gains<\/strong>, reshaping the state legislature in an anti-Trump wave.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Medicaid expansion continues to build momentum across the country and could lead to more than 500,000 Americans gaining health coverage.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.axios.com\/affordable-care-act-medicaid-expansion-virginia-utah-4bce4bf3-6275-4b46-a726-461c9c6b163d.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1527863490649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGMZ3D2zFs3gLsgavU6BqAl1TfWrQ\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/affordable-care-act-medicaid-expansion-virginia-utah-4bce4bf3-6275-4b46-a726-461c9c6b163d.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Axios<\/a>: &ldquo;Meanwhile,&nbsp;<strong>Medicaid expansion will officially be on the ballot this fall in Utah<\/strong>. [&#8230;]&nbsp;<strong>Advocates in Idaho also say they&#39;ve collected enough signatures to get the expansion on the ballo<\/strong>t. It would cover up to 62,000 people there. The bottom line: If all three states ultimately sign on,&nbsp;<strong>more than 500,000 Americans could gain health coverage<\/strong>, and Medicaid could become even more politically difficult to cut.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Meanwhile, Trump and Republican sabotage will increase health care premiums by double digits and lead to 3 million more uninsured Americans.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/389060-cbo-obamacare-premiums-to-rise-15&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1527863490649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEZVsQOE0fx89YnODURvd62lG07dw\" href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/389060-cbo-obamacare-premiums-to-rise-15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Hill<\/a>: &ldquo;<strong>ObamaCare premiums are expected to rise an average of 15 percent next year<\/strong>, an increase largely due to the GOP&rsquo;s repeal of the individual mandate, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis released Wednesday. [&#8230;]&nbsp;<strong>CBO also projected that there will be three million more uninsured people between 2018 and 2019, largely due to the repeal of the individual mandate and higher premiums<\/strong>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Trump administration has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts and other harmful changes to reduce access to Medicaid.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2018\/2\/12\/17005294\/trump-health-care-budget-explained&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1527863490649000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE4ZfCr_ArN_u2DpO4TvhPQl7Oejw\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2018\/2\/12\/17005294\/trump-health-care-budget-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vox<\/a>: &ldquo;The Trump proposal implements the deepest possible cuts for Medicaid and the Graham-Cassidy block grants, picking the lowest of the available growth rates (the regular Consumer Price Index, which is lower than the medical CPI) for the block grants.<strong>The net result is a $675 billion federal spending cut by 2028. That includes a $1.4 trillion cut to Medicaid<\/strong>&nbsp;(offset by spending on the block grants) after Trump promised during his presidential campaign not to cut the program.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health care is a top priority for voters. As Trump and Republicans continue their health care sabotage, Democrats are fighting to expand Medicaid and increase access to health care coverage. &nbsp; Americans&rsquo; top concern is the availability and affordability of health care, and it was a top priority for Virginia voters in last year&rsquo;s elections. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Democrats Increase Access To Health Care Coverage - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/democrats-increase-access-to-health-care-coverage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-31T14:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/democrats-increase-access-to-health-care-coverage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/democrats-increase-access-to-health-care-coverage\/\",\"name\":\"Democrats Increase Access To Health Care Coverage - 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