Letter to Baucus on Behalf of Youth Organizations

Here is a letter sent to Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) on behalf of a coalition of youth activist organizations fighting the good fight on health reform:

September 25, 2009

The Honorable Max Baucus
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator Baucus:

We are writing on behalf of organizations representing young Americans across the country whose lives will be dramatically impacted by health care reform. We applaud many of the aims of America’s Healthy Future Act, particularly efforts to provide universal coverage to all Americans.

However the current legislation falls short on a number of key provisions that must be addressed. We urge you to make health insurance more affordable for young Americans by expanding the income range eligible for subsidies and lowering the caps on the percentage of income individuals might pay for premiums. We urge you to allow young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance policy until the age of 26 so as to reduce gaps in coverage and preserve continuity of care. We also urge you to add a public option to make the new health insurance exchanges more competitive and lower costs for young consumers. We strongly believe that comprehensive, affordable health insurance should be available to all Americans, young and old.

We are aware of the inclusion of a “young invincible” plan in the current legislation that is “effectively a catastrophic with no coverage below the HSA out-of-pocket limit except for preventive benefits and
services.” (Snowe Amendment #F5 accepted into the Chairman’s Mark) While we believe the focus should be on improving subsidies so everyone can afford comprehensive coverage, if the “young invincible” provision must be in the legislation it needs to include certain key provisions:

• The HSA limit is now $3,000 and is far too high a deductible for even healthy young Americans. Common injuries that need treatment could spell financial ruin for young Americans, 80% of whom earn less than $40,000 per year. The allowable deductible should be significantly lowered.
• “Preventive benefits and services” must be defined broadly to include a wide variety of common preventive treatments including regular check-ups, screenings, and gynecological visits.
• The plan must include coverage for chronic conditions that impact those 18-34, such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and sinusitis, which would not count against the deductible. Over 15% of young
Americans deal with chronic health care problems. Without access to proper case management, not only do they suffer but it costs the system in the long-run.

Thank you for your leadership on this issue. Young people are counting on you to deliver on the promise of reform and a better future for all Americans.

Sincerely,

18 in ‘08
80 Million Strong
Advocates for Youth
Black Youth Vote
Bus Federation
Campus Progress
Daily Get Up
Forward Montana
Rock the Vote
Student Association for Voter Empowerment
Young Invincibles

While Baucus's track record doesn't give much hope to the letter having much of an effect on the legislative output, there's a bigger fight than what might happen with Baucus's legislation being discussed in the Senate Finance Committee this week. As this Times piece seems to indicate, there's some kind of latent momentum going for the public option outside of the more conservative Finance Committee, thanks to the GOP:

The Senate floor, and certainly a conference with the more liberal House, will be more receptive arenas, Mr. Schumer and others predict. Ultimately, the liberals in Congress, as well as their allies in organized labor, expect to be able to shape the final product more than they had hoped just weeks ago.

That unnerves the more conservative Democrats, many of them from Republican-leaning districts and states.

Liberals have been emboldened by two factors. One is the failure of Senator Max Baucus of Montana, a more conservative Democrat who heads the Finance Committee, to get any Republicans to support his draft legislation, after months of trying. That doomed President Obama’s goal of bipartisan backing for a health care overhaul, and now leaves party liberals arguing for a distinctly Democratic health plan.

“One of the strongest arguments against a public option has been that the Republicans will never go for it,” Mr. Schumer said. “Well, the Baucus bill doesn’t have a public option, and they’re still not for it in any way, with the possible exception of Olympia Snowe,” a moderate Republican senator from Maine, who has not ruled out supporting the overhaul that Mr. Obama is seeking.

The second development that has encouraged liberals is recent polling, including some done for The New York Times and CBS News in the last week, that gives Democrats a clear edge over Republicans as the party favored to deal with health care issues. The same polls show significant support for a public option despite months of criticism from Republicans, who describe it as a government takeover of health insurance.

Should Schumer be successful in staging a larger debate following all committee deliberations when the legislation is on the Senate floor, the stipulations made in the youth coalition letter appear to have a larger chance of being incorporated into the final Senate bill.

The best thing for everyone to do at this point is to bombard your respective senators and make sure they understand why youth want the public option, as well as the other caveats made in the letter above.