Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Akron) fighting for ACA subsidies amid shutdown
Congresswoman Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, said Oct. 14 she not only worries about the 29,000 people in the 13th District who rely on tax credits to help pay for their insurance through ACA exchanges, but for the health care system overall, including those insured by their employers.
She's also worried about the federal workers in her district who are either not being paid or are furloughed as the partial government shutdown hit its 14th day with no resolution in sight.
On Oct. 14, she split her time between Akron and Washington, D.C., where she's part of a bipartisan caucus looking for solutions.
“Sometimes the fish rots from the head … and the Speaker (Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana) allows the House to be a laughingstock,” Sykes said during an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal. “Congress is just an extension of the administration when it should be a check and a balance on runaway power.”
Congressional Republicans are blaming the now two-week-long shutdown on Democrats
Sykes, however, said this standoff could have been avoided. The GOP controls the House, the Senate and the White House. But Republican lawmakers also knew they would need at least five Democratic votes to pass a government funding bill and the GOP has not engaged in bipartisan negotiations, she said.
“It’s dysfunctional and not practical,” Sykes said. “It’s maddening.”
The government shutdown is a fight over health care and expiring tax credits that people use to buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Sykes said she not only worries about the 29,000 people in the 13th District who rely on those tax credits, but for the health care system overall, including those who get health insurance through their employers.
A 60-year-old couple who live in the 13th District and earn $82,800 per year, for example, would see their ACA health premiums skyrocket by $14,532 annually, according to Keep Americans Covered, a?coalition of major health care groups.
A family of four in Sykes’ district (two adults aged 45 and two children, ages 10 and 15) earning $64,000 a year would see their premiums rise $2,571, the group said.
Sykes said those ACA price increases will set off a chain reaction of negative consequences in health care for everyone.
Health insurance depends on something called “risk pooling," where the higher costs of sick or injured people are offset by the lower costs of those who are healthier. Without ACA tax credits, fewer people will be able to afford insurance and some insurers – like Aetna in Ohio – will no longer provide ACA coverage, Sykes said.
“That means everyone’s costs will go up,” Sykes said, no matter how they get health insurance.
On top of that, hospital systems will again face a substantial financial hit because they will be caring for more uninsured people who cannot pay, something the ACA helped remedy after it was passed 15 years ago.
“Now we could go back to a place of uncompensated care,” Sykes said.
That means hospital systems like Summa and Aultman – the largest employers in Summit and Stark counties – will be looking for ways to cut costs.
“I’m thinking about jobs … not just inside the hospitals,” Sykes said. The impact could reach all businesses connected to the hospitals, everything from toilet paper suppliers to contractors, she said.
“The ripple effect that’s going to happen with this will happen very quickly,” she said.
Congresswoman shares concerns she's hearing from Northeast Ohio constituents
At the same time, Sykes said she also worries for federal employees who work in her district. Air traffic controllers and TSA security screeners at the Akron-Canton Airport and people who work in the national parks or the Army Corps of Engineers are all impacted by the shutdown.
On Oct. 3, she launched a webpage to help those employees navigate the shutdown.
She said she’s heard a “mixed bag” of feedback from constituents.
“I hear a lot from people who are concerned about the government being shut down … and just the state of dysfunction … refusing to negotiate,” she said.
But she’s also hearing about how costs of groceries, housing and gas are rising, making life harder even before the ACA health tax credits could expire.
One man called after being infected with COVID and prescribed Paxlovid. He expected the drug to be free, as it had been under the Biden administration, but was billed $750 out-of-pocket, Sykes said.
“It’s not just one thing, it’s multiple things happening … and that’s why we’re holding our ground in a ferocious way” during the shutdown, Sykes said.
She dismissed President Donald Trump’s claim to have a “concept of a plan” to replace the ACA subsidies.
“We need concrete plans,” she said. “You can’t just take people’s health care away with nothing to replace it.”
Bipartisan 'Problem Solver Caucus' seeks solutions to federal shutdown
Speaker Johnson on Oct. 14 said he would not call back the House until the government shutdown ended, but Sykes said she was heading back to D.C. anyway as part of the “Problem Solver Caucus,” a bipartisan group of House lawmakers looking for solutions.
There are issues, she said, where both parties can work together. She worked with GOP-hardliner Rep. Lauren Bobert of Colorado, for example, to allow the people of Green to use Green as their city name, she said.
Nationally, the release of the Epstein files – expected to include the names of wealthy and powerful men who had sex with underage girls – has bipartisan support and will almost certainly move forward after Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva is sworn into her congressional seat.
Grijalva won a special election Sept. 23 to replace her late father, but has yet to be sworn into office.
Democratic leadership has said Speaker Johnson has stalled swearing in Grijalva because she will be the 218th voice needed to trigger a vote on legislation to force the release of the Epstein files.
As the nation prepares for another day of No Kings protests across the country and in Akron on Oct. 18, Sykes urged people to have hope.
“I am thinking of them,” she said. “It’s not about a caucus or a (political) party … it’s about people living comfortable, safe and secure lives.”
By: Amanda Garrett
Source: Akron Beacon Journal