Republicans sold their health plan as a win for freedom. Voters are wary – PBS NewsHour

U.S. President Donald Trump congratulates House Speaker Paul Ryan (L) as he gathers with Congressional Republicans in the Rose Garden of the White House after the House of Representatives approved the American Health Care Act, to repeal major parts of Obamacare and replace it with the Republican healthcare plan, in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 2017. Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters

DUNWOODY, Ga. House Republicans pitched their health care vote as a victory for freedom: States could do away with expensive Obamacare mandates and liberate insurers to sell much cheaper plans, which would cover far fewer medical needs.

No longer would men have to pay for maternity benefits. No longer would healthy 20-year-olds have to buy prescription drug coverage.

That all sounded very good to 72-year-old Mike Lowey, who was walking laps at a mall here in the hours after Republicans muscled the GOP plan through the House on Thursday afternoon.

I dont like the government being involved in everyones lives, Lowey said. They want to control everything. A retiree who voted for Trump, hes a fan of the American Health Care Act. And he can explain why in one stirring phrase: This is supposed to be the land of the free.

But that definition of freedom is proving divisive.

READ NEXT: Think youre not affected by the GOP health bill? Think again

STAT reporters talked to more than a dozen voters in the suburbs of Atlanta and Cleveland after the AHCA vote on Thursday. Many said they found the Republican vision of freedom of choice on health care seductive. It makes intuitive sense.

Yet when they thought about what it might mean for their own lives, they worried.

I wouldnt write it off immediately, said Madison Massey, 20, a student at Kent State University in Ohio. It sounds reasonable.

But Massey, a Democrat, said she would be anxious about buying a plan with skimpy benefits. I dont know many people who dont get sick, she said. If its not the same things being covered, that sounds a little sketchy.

Aaron George, a 34-year-old cook from Akron, Ohio, agreed: I see the logic in it, he said. But he knows the risks of not having good insurance; he still has medical debts he racked up pre-Obamacare. So when he thinks hard about the Republicans vision, he concludes: I dont think its a legitimate argument to make.

READ NEXT: As health care bill heads to Senate, 7 winners and losers

Trump voter Mike Sustar, a retired firefighter from Independence, Ohio, expressed similar qualms. He is all for shaking up the health care system. He wants more competition and fewer mandates. And because he has always been fairly healthy, Sustar might save money with a cheaper plan that offers fewer benefits. Pondering the idea, though, he paused.

Ive never really had to utilize health care, he said. But its that one time you have to go use it

The AHCA, which now heads to the Senate, has many components beyond giving states more flexibility. Among them:

But Republicans have focused most of their sales pitch on the idea of freedom.

The bill lets states redefine the essential benefits that must be covered by insurance. The Affordable Care Act required those benefits to be comprehensive, including mental health care, addiction counseling, hospital care, and pediatric care. Under the AHCA, states could allow insurers to craft far narrower plans.

Health economists say that flexibility should drive down premiums, but warn that people could face huge out-of-pocket costs in the long run, if an accident or illness saddles them with bills their insurance does not cover.

To Georgia political consultant Joash Thomas, 23, thats a risk worth taking.

Im all about the freedom to make the decision best for myself, he said. One size fits all is a horrible idea, always.

Thomas, who has worked for several Republican campaigns, is a first-generation immigrant from India. He said hes studied international affairs and believes the AHCA reflects uniquely American values. In a free country, youre free to make good and bad decisions, but youre still free to make your own choices, he said. Ive seen this. It makes America great.

While he says hes no expert on health care policy. Thomas said he has complete faith in President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan to craft a good plan.

Laura Wozniak, a freelance writer in Alpharetta, Ga., isnt so confident.

She sees the GOP talk of freedom as a smokescreen that undermines the entire concept of insurance as a pool that spreads risk and cost and provides a safety net that healthy 20-somethings might not think they need now, but could be grateful for in the future.

Its shortsighted to assume that because you have good health now, or a specific condition doesnt apply to you, that its never going to happen to you. I feel like were being sold a bill of goods, said Wozniak, who described herself as wildly liberal.

As for the idea that freedom means not paying for benefits only your neighbors will use? Wozniak recoiled.

Whats the point of society, she said, if we dont help others out?

This article is reproduced with permission from STAT. It was first published on May 5, 2017. Find the original story here.

Excerpt from:

Republicans sold their health plan as a win for freedom. Voters are wary - PBS NewsHour