CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito said Tuesday that the replacement for Obamacare will not succeed without the cooperation of young people.
During an appearance on MetroNews Talkline, Capito said the lack of millenials using the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, as one of the main reasons she believes it has failed.
“Let’s make sure we have affordability and that younger people can get in the system,” Capito said.
Statistics show young people make up less than 30 percent of Obamacare customers. This falls well short of the 40 percent the Obama White House had set as a goal to offset the cost of older customers who might be more prone to health issues.
Senate leaders are currently working on their own Obamacare replacement plan after the House passed the American Health Care Act a few weeks ago. Capito said Tuesday she couldn’t vote for the House plan in its current form.
“I would have a lot of trouble voting for it. I simply don’t think the clarifications are there for pre-existing conditions, and the Medicaid question is not to my satisfaction in terms of what is going to happen to the 184,000 people on Medicaid in the state,” she said.
Despite the problems that still need to be worked out in the Senate regarding the bill, Capito sees this as an improvement over the Affordable Care Act, which has come under increasing amounts of scrutiny as premium rates continue to rise.
“Premiums in West Virginia have gone up 169 percent since 2013,” Capito said. “People who are on the exchanges are not just dedicating a car payment to premiums, now its a house payment.”
According to a national report, premiums for “middle of the pack” plans will increase an average of 25 percent in the 39 states that use the Affordable Care Act’s federal insurance marketplace this year.
“We have to fix this,” Capito said. “In order to do that we have to allow the states to create systems that they can afford, which they do not have the ability to do now.”
Capito also said any new plan should include auto enrollment to move away from the fines Obamacare created.
“I am for auto enroll, it is not something you hear talked about too much, but lets go ahead and enroll as many people as we can in a plan so they will have some coverage at the base level,” she said.
On the issue of pre-existing conditions, Capito said there may ways to satisfy both sides of the issue.
“It is important to clarify that pre-existing conditions are going to be covered,” Capito said. “But maybe we have more limitations on the enrollment period. You can’t just enroll the day before you have an appendectomy. Let’s be sure that we have incentivized people to stay on the system.”
A vote on the Senate plan is expected later this year.