Professor Mark Hall
Posted: March 16th, 2017 | By: Cash Michaels
Professor Mark Hall, director of the law school’s Health Law and Policy Program, is among experts quoted in the following story, “‘Trumpcare’ not good for N.C., observers say,” written by Cash Michaels and published by The Winston-Salem Chronicle on March 16, 2017.
An excerpt follows:
As with the rest of the nation, North Carolina policy analysts and elected officials are up in arms over the recent Republican House proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – which currently over 500,000 North Carolinians depend on – and replace it with what many are calling “Trumpcare.”
There is no question, they say, that the poor, elderly and people of color will be negatively impacted, forcing many to choose between med-ical attention, shelter and food.
“The ACA has played a significant role in reducing worry among Americans who previously struggled to pay unaffordable medical bills when they got sick,” U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last week.
“We cannot afford to go back to the days when Americans were forced to pay more money for less coverage, and when insurance companies rationed the care people received.”
Under the current Affordable Care Act, enrollees get generous government subsidies or tax credits to help cover the cost of health insurance premiums, thus keeping the cost of health care affordable.
Trumpcare, if adopted, cuts those subsidies, putting enrolled North Carolinians at risk.
“Some people will be better off, and more people will be worst off,” Prof Hall of Wake Forest School of Law said. “Younger, healthier people will be better off, and the opposite of all of that will be worse off.”
