WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Hillsdale Interview: Lauren Stewart

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

Lauren Stewart, senior federal legislative liaison at Americans for Prosperity and Concerned Veterans for America, joins WRFH to discuss how President Biden is attempting to rewrite his record on healthcare.

Hello, this is Radio Free Hillsdale on 101.7 FM. I'm Gavin Lee Stroh, and with me today is Lauren Stewart, Senior Federal Legislative Liaison and Americans for Prosperity and Concern Veterans for America. You can read her article titled Biden is telling tall tales on health care over at Washington Examiner.com. Okay, Ms. Stewart, you put out this article in late April, and you offered a very concise and well-founded critique, I thought, of the president's claims made on health care. Could you start by laying out for the listener what these claims were that prompted you to write this article?

Absolutely, and thank you so much for having me. So the president is trying to rewrite his record on health care, and we're starting to see this really gear up a lot, especially in places like Michigan, which continues to be a battleground state. And he's rewriting his record on health care, A, because there is an election coming up, right? And this is continuously a top three issue for American families and American patients. And number two, because a lot of his policies are at the core of what is wrong with our health care system in America. So, number one, he boasts about, you know, bragging how many more millions of people are insured under the Affordable Care Act.

But what he fails to mention is that providers are leaving the marketplace at a rapid rate every year. So just because these are carried carrying Obamacare and enrollees, it doesn't mean that they have access to health care. In many cases, it means that they have a lot less access than the rest of us and that their care is more expensive. Additionally, over the last 10 years, premiums for all Americans have risen by about 60 percent, and we don't see that rate slowing down in the future. He's also worked to eliminate short-term duration insurance plans, which are really great and favorable among young people that are just starting out in the workplace and just want something that covers the basic needs because they're young and healthy and are working their way up the income ladder.

And then finally, he's really put Republicans up against the law, and his political opponents up against the wall for claiming that they would like to do things like get rid of Medicare or Social Security. When his administration, in fact, just made sweeping cuts to Medicare Advantage, the Medicare Advantage side of Medicare is a program that, you know, many seniors opt into to have the option to supplement their Medicare with private insurance. and the Biden administration's made sweeping cut to that program to force seniors just into a purely Medicare health care system.

And, you know, what this is is the president talking about out of two sides of his mouth. His rhetoric not matching the outcomes of his policies, but him understanding the importance of this to American voters and trying to switch the narrative. You mentioned that the fixes that the GOP lawmakers have proposed would benefit the exact people who Biden needs to vote for him in November. If he isn't pleasing his target voter base, then who's benefiting from the current system? No one is benefiting from the current system, including the folks that it was intended and that we were told, you know, on the passage of Obamacare, you know, in terms of who would be on Obamacare, it's going to help the most vulnerable. It's going to help those with lower income.

It's going to help minorities. Those folks are experiencing less health care access than anyone else on the private market. And on the private market, we continue to see access and costs go up disproportionately. So your costs are increasing drastically, but your coverage and your access to health care is not doing so in kind. For example, my father needs heart surgery this fall. My parents paid $30,000 a year for health insurance premiums, and the surgeon he would like to use does not take his health insurance. And we continue to hear instances of this. So it does not help the people it was intending to help.

And in kind, it hurts the rest of us who are looking for access to health care at an affordable rate and of decent quality. You mentioned that Biden targeted Medicare Advantage plans that seniors tend to prefer. What does this attack look like and how does it affect this demographic that are higher at risk? Absolutely. So what this attack looks like is, you know, really gutting and slashing funds to the Medicare Advantage program to limit the number of options that seniors would be able to have when using Medicare Advantage, which is what makes Medicare advantage so appealing, right? That's why the majority of seniors on Medicare choose to have Medicare advantage. What this looks like is come October,

November, you know, September, I believe open enrollment starts, is a lot of people understanding that they're going to be paying a lot more for not only less coverage with their health care, but less options to choose from. So imagine, you know, the Starbucks menu right now looks like it does and then come the fall, you can only get a cold brew or a hot coffee. You can't add anything to it. There's no sugar. There's no oat milk. There's no lattes. And everything costs twice as much. That's the best illustration of what this will look like for seniors come October and November around open enrollment. I guess my question is to how do we fix this? You mentioned that bipartisan efforts to write these wrongs were made in the last four years by

Congress. Is there anything else that GOP can do to help the current health care system, or is there kind of a feeling that we should just wait until November and hope that a new face in the office will fix things? You know, November is very important. I don't want to take away from that, but there's already, right now on Capitol Hill, more than two dozen Republican-led solutions that would fix a lot of the problems at the core of health care in America. What does that look like? It looks like putting patients and families in the driver's seat of their health care, allowing them to control more of the dollars that is spent on health care. Right now, all of the dollars spent on health care in our country, and it's a lot.

It is the largest percentage of our GDP is controlled by insurance companies and the government. We need to fund patients, not the government, and empower patients, not the system, so that we can drive better health outcomes so that folks have more options and are able to make decisions based out their unique health needs, not on their shrinking insurance networks or not because they're afraid of surprise bills and not understanding how much things cost. Now, what solutions am I specifically referencing? An example is the Healthcare Fairness for All Act under Congressman Pete Sessions. What that does is allows all Americans to have access to a health savings account.

Now, health savings account for those of you who don't know, works like a 401K, but for your health care. You're able to put away tax-advantaged dollars to use for qualified medical expenses, things like prescription drugs, co-pays, allergy medicine, and to also save for future health needs, which is a really, really big deal, and why it's so great for all Americans to have access to do so. Right now, only 10% of Americans have access to a health savings account. Imagine if we said only 10% of Americans are allowed to have a 401k or save for retirement. It's just, it's outright silly. this bill would give all Americans access to a health savings account, which is a tremendous health benefit. And there are plenty of other Republican-led bills that expand access to health savings accounts

to demographics like veterans, also like seniors, people who are in Medicare right now cannot have a health savings account. There are bills out there that are led by Republicans to allow them to. What's happening here is the government is picking winners and losers, and the Republican-led solutions on Capitol Hill remove the ability to do that by giving everyone, access to these various options and tremendous innovations in the health coverage system and in the healthcare system altogether. That kind of leads into my next question. Where is the kickback coming from against these programs that are proposed by the GOP?

Is this strictly the administration of Biden or is this other people in Congress? Look, the kickback here, and the most illustrative example, really is Medicare advantage. The Biden administration doesn't want anything on the market that is going to make a, Obamacare or anything that looks like a public option look bad. And what it does is having most of those options out there, you know, people will make different choices, right? If there are more options, maybe there are less people enrolled in Obamacare because they find that a health savings account that fits their needs and gives them more choice and

control over their health care. You know, we know when Medicare Advantage exists that more seniors choose to utilize Medicare advantage for their Medicare. The biggest kickback is that it is moving us away from the direction that Democrats want to go in, which is a government takeover, a one-size-fits-all universal health care. Now, I will say we've had some fantastic conversations with Democrats on the Hill who are open to the idea of decoupling health savings accounts from high deductible plans and employees-sponsored health insurance.

That's the way it is right now. That's why only 10% of Americans have access to it. And we haven't seen a ton of pushback on the idea of making that not the case and just having it as an option. But in the back of our head, we know the Biden administration doesn't want anything on the health insurance marketplace, on the health marketplace that is going to make Obamacare look bad. And it doesn't take much to do that these days. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale on 101.7 FM. I'm talking to Lauren Stewart. You can read her article.

Biden is telling tall tales on health care over. at Washingtonexaminer.com. You mentioned that Biden is accusing Republicans of wanting to take us backwards. I think that was the quote you used. What is he mean by that? Is he referring to these proposed plans,

or is he wondering if we're going to go back to an older pre-Oabomacare style of program? Look, President Biden is not referring to these plans at all. He's ignoring them and hoping that the American people do the same thing. This is a different

landscape in terms of health care for an election year. Previously, Republicans really didn't have any options or alternative beyond repeal and replace. Now they do. So what President Biden is doing is taking a page out of the old Democratic playbook and using scare tactics against Republicans on health care. When he talks about taking us backwards, he specifically meaning folks want to take away your Obamacare. He's actually running a $14 million ad campaign in Battleground States saying that President Trump and the Republicans want to do this. President Trump's campaign came out pretty swiftly after this announcement and said that's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to increase the number of options and access that people have in health care. So President

Biden is not referring to these solutions. He's ignoring them and hoping we do as well. You also cite the staggering amount of worry and distrust that people have in the current health care system. You had some statistics there that were kind of mind-boggling. What can we expect from another four years of Biden if he's reelected? Is this a trend that's just going to continue to get worse? Are the numbers going to get worse? The numbers are absolutely going to get worse, and we can expect more of the status quo, that unfortunately I feel many of us are numb to, right?

If you're talking about how health care costs too much, how there's not enough options, it's something that as an American society we've become very numb to and very used to, and that will continue to be the static quo. but premiums will continue to rise at the staggering rate. And already, you know, just last year, through our polling, we found about 40% of Americans delayed medical care because they were afraid of the cost and the surprise bills. So we will continue to see cost rise, access go down,

and we will continue to see dismal health outcomes in this country because people are afraid to get their health care based off of cost. I mean, that's just one example of how detrimental four more years of President Biden's health care antics would look like. I know that Trump recently met with GOP leaders in the last couple weeks. Do you know if any talk of this was mentioned in them joining together if he's elected? I am not sure. I know that on the right of center on Capitol Hill, there is a ton of momentum, a ton of great

policy out there that I believe President Trump would and should be behind. but I'm not sure if it came up in those talks in particular. What I am looking forward to is seeing if it comes up as a question in the debate, as I know it continues to be top of mind for many Americans. Yeah, that leads to my next question of, are we seeing a result of people's realization of his lies in the polls? Is this something that the mainstream media is even talking about? Mainstream media is not talking about this currently.

There's a lot of other failures under President Biden, that are making the radar much higher. But nonetheless, Americans feel it. We are a grassroots organization with thousands of activists and communities across the country. It's something we hear at the doors. It's also something that we hear

from our communities all the time. And through our polling, we've actually found that the majority of Americans, both Democrat and Republican, support the GOP-led solutions when they learn about them. We've also found that the discontent in health care

is not a partisan issue and that about 80% of Americans are very dissatisfied with their health care, their access to it, and how much it costs. And the word that they use to describe how they feel about their health care is trapped. So this is definitely something that is going to come up in the next administration undoubtedly because it's a political issue, but also whether you want to address it or not, in 2025, the last subsidies from the Affordable Care Act expire. So we are going to be doing this whole health care gamut, again, whether we like it or not. So I think politicians, I know on the right of center are starting to realize this is not something we need to run from and can run from. Also, we're the ones with the solutions this time, and just logistically won't be

able to. You say the Americans are finding that having insurance cards doesn't even guarantee access to medical care, which is obviously not good. Could you tell us in reality, what is the bare minimum that people can expect from this administration's health care system? The bare minimum that we can expect from the Biden administration and health care is, I mean, it's very dismal, so I don't want to make the bare minimum sound like it's something good, but the bare minimum we can expect is further moves towards a public option, which looks like one option, when Americans are wanting many more options, right? I know the way I do my health care, my health insurance does not work for my neighbors.

They have different health circumstances. Their personal preferences are different within their family. What we can expect from this administration is moving towards a one-size-fits-all, moving towards a universal health care outwine, essentially, that will cost taxpayers billions and billions of dollars that will not increase access for anyone. We're talking low income. We're talking minorities. I mean, everybody will have these same and very frequent and very damaging problems with health care. So the bare minimum in this administration is the continual removal of other options outside of a government takeover in health care. I guess that kind of leads to this question of what should Biden do.

He's obviously lied to American public about his performance, about the numbers and the trajectory of the health care system. and he's left of many Americans unsure of the system. What should he do to salvage this and his reputation in these last couple months if he even can? If I were President Biden, I would say this. The Affordable Care Act has served many people and has not served many people.

So what we want to do is keep what's working and fix what's broken. And what's broken is the arbitrary government barriers to things like who and who cannot have a health savings account, to how you can use your health savings account to pay for direct primary care to, you know, what telehealth regulation looks like. We're going to remove all of these arbitrary government barriers to more options in health care, things like Medicare Advantage, things like short-term duration insurance plans.

Look, I'm 82 years old. I can't imagine being on a short-term insurance plan, but there are younger people out there who like it. So if that's what you'd like to do with your health care, we're going to have as many options as possible because really health care is personal, and all Americans deserve a personal option in their health care. So Obamacare is expiring in 2025. We're going to take a good, hard look at it. We're going to keep what's working in Obamacare because there are plans, and there are people on Obamacare that really like it, and it works well for them. But there

are too many people in our country who feel trapped in their health care, who feel like they're not getting what they pay for in terms of their premiums. And we want to remove the barriers to more options. That way, cost will lower for everyone. Access will increase, and the quality of care will also go up. We need a higher rate of not just contentment with health care in America, but it's something we should feel really good about because, as I said, it's personal, and all Americans deserve a personal option in their health care. If you're just joining us, you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale on 101.1.7 FM, and I'm talking to Lauren Stewart about her article. Biden is telling tall tales on health care.

You can find that over at the Washington Examiner.com. Just in summary, is there anything else from writing this article that you would like to share with the listener or any other thoughts on the issue that you have? Yeah, I would just like listeners to know that, you know, we are a little bit numb, as I mentioned, to the status quo of health care being crappy, of it never feeling good when we get to open enrollment, of not really understanding what we're paying for, what we're getting, and what's covered, and it doesn't have to be that way. There are Republican-led solutions on Capitol Hill that remove barriers between you and your provider, between you and your health care decisions that best fit your needs.

Between you and your family, truly having a personal option in their health care. And you can learn more about this plan. It is endorsed by patients, doctors, and members of Congress alike at personaloption.com. And who are the congressmen who are pushing this? Oh, we actually, and this is pretty astounding, across both chambers on Capitol Hill, we have over 350 members of Congress and the Senate who co-sponsor a piece of personal option legislation. Now, that can run the gamut from enacting site neutral payments in Medicare, which just means, you know, ending unfair billing practices of Medicare.

It looks like health savings accounts, expansions, it looks like direct primary care enhancement, looks like telehealth provisions and making generic drugs come to market. much easier. So it really runs the gamut in terms of issues, but we do have a consensus across our legislative agenda on various issues. One more question. I'm sorry. I know I said we were ending. But can we, is any of this to blame on privatized industry at all? Or is this something that you can pin the blame on the administration? Look, the privatized industry and health insurance is working within a system with really poor incentive. I don't think we can blame them for taking advantage of not having the

incentive to build to a fairer market. I don't think we can blame them for working in the system that has been set up and subsidized by the government. Now, that being said, I think a big problem at the core of health care is that health insurance controls our health care. We are not in the driver's seat of our health care because we don't control the majority of the dollars spent on health care. So because of the incentives that they are needing to operate in, they are a business as well, we thus don't have any control or we have a lot less control than they do over our health care. And that, to me, is a core problem with our health care system. We need to be focused on funding and empowering patients, not the system, not the government, and not large insurance companies.

Thank you so much, Ms. Stewart. I appreciate your time and just your knowledge on this whole topic. And if you want to go check out her article, it's titled Biden is telling Tall Tales on Health Care over at Washingtonexaminer.com. Thank you so much. Thank you. And once again, I'm Gavin Lee Stroh. And that was Lauren Stewart, senior federal legislative liaison at Americans for Prosperity and Concerned Veterans for America. You can read her article titled Biden is Telling Tall Tales on Health Care over at Washingtonexamitor.com. This has been Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.