Let’s Talk About Healthcare in NJ7

Malinowski vs. Kean, Jr

As a health insurance broker in NJ, I am well aware of the issues faced by my clients in terms of affordability of health insurance as well as out of pocket costs given high deductibles, coinsurance and Rx costs. Now in the midst of a world- wide pandemic, the availability of health insurance is more important than ever.

Congressman Malinowski has worked with the House majority to support initiatives to help all Americans.  His YES votes include:

The following is a collection of public statements and voting records on healthcare by Tom Malinowski and Leonard Lance, candidates for NJ's 7th Congressional District. Please refer to candidate websites and social media accounts for additional information and to interact with candidates.

NJ Primaries are June 5! Mark your calendars and plan to vote!

The following is a collection of public statements and voting records on healthcare by each of the major candidates for NJ's 7th Congressional District. Please refer to candidate websites and social media accounts for additional information and to interact with candidates.

* Prefers Medicare for All - Single Payer

N/A - Not Addressed

Congressman Lance likes to tout his bipartisan credentials. Well, it is time for him to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk, and to get out ahead of an issue for once.

 It was only a matter of time before the drumbeats would mount for cuts to be made to the budget after the donor class got their big slice of pie through the Tax Cuts and Job Creation Act. And sure enough, President Trump is apparently preparing to send for Congressional approval $15 billion in cuts from the already-approved budget, through a process known as rescission. What is more, this is apparently the first of several such proposed rescissions, all designed to mollify conservatives who are wringing their hands over the size of the federal deficit.  A deficit made worse by their own legislation.

 No surprise, the cuts target health care, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program(SCHIP), which was the subject of much wrangling last year. Even some Republicans, notably Senator Susan Collins of Maine, appear to be a little taken aback. “One of the programs that reportedly is going to be cut is SCHIP, and that concerns me greatly,” she said. Of course, we are told the money saved is money that was not being spent. Are children not getting sick any more?

 As Congressman Lance well knows, the budget deal was a bipartisan agreement, in which both sides gave to get. It can hardly be said to be a bipartisan agreement if one side starts taking back what it gave.  And there is little merit in vaunting one’s bipartisan credentials without being prepared to demonstrate commitment to the process by speaking out against attempts to undermine it.

 Congressman Lance’s modus operandi is to preserve his carefully curated moderate media image by saying as little as possible until as late as possible and to avoid as much trouble as possible. On this occasion, why does he not just stand up and publicly declare a deal is a deal? That would be a true act of bipartisanship.

#RememberinNovember #NJ07

There’s Nothing Funny About this Gag

This is latest idea from the Republican Party bereft of vote-winning ideas.  When faced with the fury of voters, they failed to repeal and replace Obamacare (an action Leonard Lance voted for at least 39 times).  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Creation Act may have sent the champagne corks popping amongst the big donors, but it produced no joy in Mudville.  Nevertheless, a reliable approach to stir up the base is to go after abortion rights and Planned Parenthood. 

Hence the contemplated decision to cut off abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood by banning them from receiving Title X health care funding if they mention abortion or abortion-related services-- even if they also provide safe abortion services using their own, separate, non-federal funds. 

Title X is the nation’s program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care that four million people rely on. And, no surprise, those who lack health insurance, or have low incomes, are those who will suffer from this decision.  

This so-called “gag rule” was implemented for overseas aid years ago by the Reagan administration, and then by George W. Bush, and again a year ago by Trump/Pence. Overseas groups spending even a dime of their own money advocating for changes in their own nation’s abortion laws were made ineligible to receive family planning funds from the U.S. The results were predictable - an increase in unintended pregnancies, more unsafe abortions, and a chill on public-health research and discussions.  But it has been a policy goal of Mike Pence and the right to bring this policy home for over a decade. 

There is political calculation here. Trump has been shown a list of the top 2018 competitive House races, in which every single sitting Republican is pro-life, including our own Leonard Lance. White House support for this change is seen as a winning issue. Lance has been quiet on the topic. Call him up, express your opposition to the “gag rule” and inquire of the Congressman’s position: (908) 518-7733.  If you get a straight answer, let us know.

#RememberinNovember; #NJ07.  

Let’s think big for the American people!  Let’s discard the cramped and narrow politics of avarice favored by Republicans such as our very own Leonard Lance. Let’s instead wake up to the fact that most Americans expect the government to play a BIGGER role in making the US economy work for all of us. Most voters want to RAISE taxes on the rich and corporations; they want INCREASED spending on Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare; they want a HIGHER minimum wage; SUPPORT for college education. 

We were told that the Tax Reduction and Job Creation Act would spur investment in jobs and workers.  If you are a regular reader, you know that’s nonsense.  Even Marco Rubio knows it: “There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they’re going to take the money they’re saving and reinvest it in American workers,” he said in an interview. “In fact they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there’s no evidence whatsoever that the money’s been massively poured back into the American worker.” Thank you Marco! There is more joy in Heaven when one sinner repenteth…..

Let’s turn over Congress and roll back this giveaway; and let’s debate some of the big ideas in circulation to restore real prosperity to American workers.

• Open Medicare to people under 65.
• Provide free PreK education. 
• Expand support for community colleges and job training.
• Expand the the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. 
• Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit, especially for childless adults, to incentivize work. 
• Put people to work on rebuilding American infrastructure. 
• Support collective bargaining and wage boards. 

Don’t say some or all of this can’t be done!  The alternative is death by a thousand cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and a systematic enlargement of the gulf between the super rich and the rest of us. We can use progressive taxation policies to help lift all boats and restore the faith of all of us in the American dream - that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. 

#RememberinNovember #NJ07 #Vote

Lance Tries to Douse the Flames of the Fire He Started

We don’t reward the drunk who sets fire to the barn for calling the fire department after-the-fact.  Yet one can compare Leonard Lance's voting behavior on public health to just such reckless behavior.  Why should we applaud him for highlighting $13 million in new funding awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services to New Jersey to combat the opioid crisis?  After all, this is the man who called for the repeal or defunding of Obamacare at least 39 times.  By repeatedly voting to repeal Obamacare, Lance voted to sabotage what has been the most effective program we have in place so far to battle opioid addiction, a scourge that in 2015 was estimated to have an economic cost of $504 billion. 

That program is Medicaid. As of now, 38 States have accepted the Medicaid expansion opportunity offered by Obamacare, including New Jersey. Following that expansion, Medicaid has become the key vehicle for delivering substance-abuse and rehabilitation services to populations at risk of opioid abuse and overdose.  Nationwide, 1.9 million non-elderly Americans are addicted to opioids, 128,000 of them in our state.  About 1 million of these people are low income, and to the extent they that they are being helped, those with Medicaid are twice as likely as those with private insurance or no insurance to receive any treatment for their addiction.  The public option, Medicaid, is on the front lines, as it has been in the past in other public health crises. 

Small wonder that States have looked for waivers to allow their Medicaid recipients to receive additional services for those suffering from addiction, such as supportive housing, supported employment (such as job coaching), and peer recovery coaching.

Republicans have painted Medicaid as the problem, not as necessary tool to combat opioid use, and their claim has been thoroughly debunked. The truth is that both Medicaid and Medicare offer opportunities to make a large dent in the problem, a reality that Congressman Lance’s Energy and Commerce Health SubCommittee has finally woken up to. 

Pity about the 39 votes, Congressman.  It’s a bit late to call the fire department. 

#RememberinNovember. #NJ07.

Way back in 2013, Congressman Leonard Lance’s proud boast was that he had voted 39 times to repeal, defund or dismantle Obamacare.

In 2017, Lance voted FOR the Republican repeal measure, when it emerged from the Committee on which he serves. Of course, when faced with a constituency-wide rebellion, Congressman Lance changed his tune, and ultimately voted AGAINST the legislation on the House floor. This is the vote he would like us to remember in his attempts to paint himself as the model of a moderate Republican. 

HEALTHCARE:  New Jersey Seventh Needs a Strong Advocate

What does Congressman Leonard Lance want to do about healthcare?  Like most of his House Republican colleagues, he voted multiple times to repeal Obamacare.  Faced with the opportunity to do so by passing the American Health Care Act, Republicans blinked because of a massive groundswell of popular opposition. Congressman Lance was one of those who voted “No,” after voting for—i.e., failing to kill—the bill in Committee.

NJ7 Congressman Leonard (I'm not a moderate but I play one on television) ​Lance is on TV again, talking about the Problem Solver Caucus and their hope to fix healthcare. It's an admirable bi-partisan caucus but what Lance neglects to admit is that he's trying to solve a problem that he help to create in the first place.

With his Executive Order ending CSR payment that stabilize the health insurance marketplace, Trump has thrown a grenade into healthcare. No, not a figurative grenade, a real one. Health insurance rates are expected to rise by up to 28% in 2018 for individuals and small businesses in New Jersey and this is going to hurt a lot of people in the state and in the country just like a real grenade would. Read this story in NJ Spotlight to understand exactly what is happening.

Do not, for a second, let your conservative friends blame Obamacare for these increases and the collateral damage that this Executive Order will cause. The GOP has held absolute and total control of Washington for the entire year. They have had the means and the votes to make meaningful and significant improvements to healthcare in this country, but every single plan that they have put forth has stunk. Simple as that. And they put a man in the White House that threw the grenade. Now Lance, who helped give that man the grenade, is saying, "That grenade made a mess! Let me help clean up!"

It's too late, Lance, to pretend to be a moderate. Your chance was in November 2016 when you could have placed country above party instead of saying "Donald Trump will have my enthusiastic support for President." You and your party endorsed a man that lacked the intellect, temperament, and compassion for the highest office in the land. Everyone knew it and every single worse case scenario is coming true. You blew it, Congressman Lance, and now every terrible tweet and every terrible and divisive Executive Order issued from the White House has your fingerprint on it.