Alaskans deserve straight talk on Sullivan’s health care record

As a former Alaska legislator, I served with former Sen. Berta Gardner. I know that she’s honest and a straight shooter. That’s why I was surprised to read her op-ed, “Alaskans put at risk by junk health care plans,” that was less than honest about a recent vote cast by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Gardner’s main claim, that Sullivan voted for a bill that would undo the mandate to cover pre-existing conditions, is just wrong. For one, the Oct. 30 vote she references was not a vote on a specific bill, the name of which she also got wrong. Instead it was a vote by Democrats to undo Trump administration rules giving more flexibility to states to innovate and reduce the cost of health care for Alaskans. When you’re making such a serious charge, you’ve got to get your facts straight.

Gardner’s larger claim is that Sullivan supports allowing insurance companies to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Wrong again. I’ve followed the debate closely and personally heard him say over and over that he opposes any bill that would undo this requirement. He has voted for and co-sponsored bills that say as much.

Alaskans should know that the innovation and flexibility provided by the new rules will not compromise care, and will not affect pre-existing conditions coverage. Anybody that tells Alaskans differently is simply not relaying correct information.

Because Gardner shies away from offering any details about his vote, let me go into this a bit, with a little history. After the Affordable Care Act was enacted, Alaska suffered enormously, and boy, did I hear about it from my constituents. The Affordable Care Act’s federal mandates simply didn’t work for Alaska. Five out of the six companies that offered individual health insurance left the state. The cost of premiums tripled. Alaskans all across the state were suffering. To make matters worse, they were fined if they didn’t buy health insurance.

The Legislature, which included both Gardner and myself, came up with an innovative way to lower costs. We appropriated money for a “reinsurance” program to lower costs, and then the governor requested a 1332 waiver under the ACA to get reimbursed for those costs, and an exemption from some of the ACA requirements that simply don’t work for our state. In 2017, the Trump administration granted the waver. This action has reduced premiums by more than 20%.

But our costs are still just too darned expensive. I’m glad that Sullivan has worked to fix some of the most egregious elements of the ACA, including getting rid of the fine imposed on Americans choosing not to buy health insurance—one that hit the middle class the hardest. He has also worked to delay the so-called Cadillac Tax that would apply to roughly 90 percent of insurance plans sold in Alaska and might have collapsed our insurance market.

These new rules surrounding the 1332 waiver give our state even more flexibility—something that Democrats in the Senate wanted to take away. For example, the rules will enable lower costs by providing less costly primary care coverage—which likely wouldn’t have been allowed under the ACA. Also, the new rules allow short-term catastrophic plans to be offered for a longer time period.

These kinds of plans often fit the needs of many younger Americans who can hardly afford the outrageous premiums per month for an Obamacare-approved health insurance plan but who want to be responsible and have coverage in the event of an emergency. Sens. Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski voted against the Democrats’ resolution. Heck, every Republican senator but one voted against the resolution that would stifle competition. Thankfully, it failed.

Health care is a complicated topic, but I believe, as does Sullivan, that if we’re going to succeed in lowering the costs of health care for Alaskans, we have to be able to innovate. In order to innovate, we must loosen federal restrictions that tell us we can’t.

I’d bet most Alaskans believe that we need to lower costs so that everybody can access quality health care. Where the differences lie is in how we get there. Many national Democrats, and some in our state, believe we need more government control. A “Medicare for all” that a bunch of Democrats support would cost $3 trillion per year and kick some 170 million Americans off of their current insurance. Unions plans? Gone. Tricare that our veterans receive? Gone. It would be awful for Alaskans, particularly our seniors who are already struggling to find doctors who will see them.

I’ve talked to Sullivan about his views. He supports strengthening the system that we have. He supports giving those on the ground who know our health care system best greater control over how it works. He supports greater transparency so Alaskans can control their own health care choices and costs. He supports tighter reins over insurance companies and the medical and pharmaceutical industries to prevent them from playing the system and gouging patients. But he believes, as do most Alaskans, that innovation is vital. Alaska is different. Our health care choices need to be different too. We need flexibility. We need innovation. And we need our politicians to tell us the truth.

Lynn Gattis served the greater Wasilla area in the Alaska House of Representatives from 2013 to 2016,

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