Faso: “It is a very complicated thing”
KINGSTON – Changes to outgoing President Obama’s Affordable Care
Act, anticipated as a priority for the incoming Trump administration starting
in 2017, may take several years to hammer out, Rep. John Faso (R, 19)
told business leaders belonging to the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce
Wednesday in Kingston.
The discussion was Faso’s first major speaking appearance in Ulster County, since taking office in January.
“It is a very complicated thing; there are multiple moving parts taking place at the same time, and there’s going to be much political argument and debate, about the various points that will be considered,” he said.
The congressman said the issues are going to be “very contentious,”
noting whatever is decided later this year must be accomplished on a bipartisan
basis.
Faso said that budgetary reconciliation changes will come first, followed by regulatory reform at Health and Human Service with statutory changes hammered out several years down the road.
Priorities include preserving health care for people now receiving coverage, and preventing further collapse of the insurance pools. Faso also indicated that New York’s Medicaid system is overreaching, covering a third of the state population, and eating up about 15 percent of the system nationwide.
Protestors outside the Kingston hotel where Faso was speaking
“The ACA has done many good things,” Faso said. “The ban on pre-existing conditions to bar someone from buying insurance is a good idea.” He also approves of allowing children up to the age of 26 to be included on a parent’s health plan.
However, many employers are limiting their staff to part-time, or keeping the company size below 50 employees, in order to avoid some of the financial burdens associated with Obamacare. Premiums have gone up, and availability of optional plans has dwindled, he added.
Asked about single payer options, Faso replied that monolithic solutions to health care problems can grow into complicated bureaucracy, with longer waiting times and fewer innovative treatments. Other choices should be made available for those to those willing to pay up front for certain procedures, he said.
The packed room was made extra tight by police presence stationed there to guard against the crowd of protesters standing outside in the chilly damp morning air. Democrats are gearing up for a weekend of civil disobedience in defiance of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday.
