Two top Trump administration officials visiting Massachusetts slammed the Affordable Care Act as a failure – even though the law has broad bipartisan support in this state and key measures suggest it is working smoothly here.
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar II and the administrator of Medicare and Medicaid, Seema Verma, in separate appearances Monday, also ridiculed the “Medicare for All” plans that many Democrats are now promoting. They argued that costs would rise and the quality of care would decline under such a system.
“The solution to a partial takeover of health care and its failings is not a complete government takeover of health care,” Azar said Monday night at an event hosted by the Pioneer Institute, a free market-oriented think tank in Boston.
Verma called a single-payer system the biggest threat to the future of the American health care system, and she blamed the current health care law for driving up costs for many people who can’t afford to get coverage.
“Obamacare simply isn’t working. I think everybody knows that. That’s why you’ve seen some folks call for Medicare for All,” Verma said in an interview with The Boston Globe, before speaking at a medical innovation conference hosted by Partners HealthCare.
President Obama’s signature health care law — which was modeled on a 2006 Massachusetts law — created new marketplaces where individuals can buy subsidized health plans. It also extended Medicaid coverage to more low-income individuals.
Governor Charlie Baker, a critic of President Trump, has split with other Republicans to defend the federal health care law. Baker’s administration has worked to stabilize and grow the state’s insurance exchange, called the Massachusetts Health Connector. The Connector now serves more than 282,000 people, the most in its 13-year history.
“We’ve taken the approach in Massachusetts that we work with both the federal and state laws that we have,” said Marylou Sudders, Baker’s secretary of health and human services.
“We have 97 percent of people covered in Massachusetts,” Sudders told the Globe on Monday. “The Affordable Care Act has added to that coverage. Our marketplace works in Massachusetts.”
Trump and Republicans in Congress have tried and failed to scrap the federal health care law. They axed one key provision — the federal mandate that requires people to obtain health coverage — but millions of people continued to sign up for Obamacare health plans this year.
In March, Trump administration officials revived the health care debate by supporting a court decision to invalidate the entire sweeping health care law.
“We’ve always said that the individual mandate was unconstitutional. We agree with the court’s ruling,” Verma said.
Azar and Verma said they favor market-driven approaches to health care that give patients more choice. They said health care costs should be made more transparent so patients have more information about what they’re buying.
Neither official talked specifically about the Massachusetts health care system.
Azar, speaking of Trump, said: “I’ve got a boss who’s got my back.
“Get drug prices down, get health care affordable, get more insurance options to people . . . Get it done. He’s got my back.”
Trump has said that his party would be “the party of health care,” but Republicans in Congress have no plans to pursue a big health care bill.
Priyanka Dayal McCluskey can be reached at priyanka.mccluskey@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @priyanka_dayal.