MANSFIELD – Trump and trans fats were on the minds of Congressman Pat Tiberi and Jones’ Chips President Bob Jones on Thursday morning.
After touring the Jones’ Chips factory for the first time, Tiberi sat down with brothers Bob and Darryl Jones for an exclusive interview with Richland Source about the GOP 12th district representative’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The irony of discussing healthcare in a potato chip factory was not lost on the two men.
“There is nothing that can be done to a potato chip to make it healthy,” Bob Jones joked. “They didn’t take the oil out, they just changed the oil. Intuitively, it is a minimal difference.”
Jones was referring to the new way of producing Jones’ Chips after the FDA ruled partially-hydrogenated oils were no longer “generally recognized as safe.” The new chips are made with corn oil after the company was forced to stop producing soybean oil chips, and has been a point of controversy in the local community.
However, much of Thursday’s discussion centered around a different change that is also sparking controversy across the country. On Jan. 13, the House of Representatives passed a budget resolution to set the stage to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, through the reconciliation process.
Congressman Tiberi sits at the epicenter of repealing the Affordable Care Act, serving as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health. The subcommittee includes bills and matters referred to the Committee on Ways and Means that relate to programs providing payments (from any source) for health care, health delivery systems, or health research.
“What we want to do is transition out of Obamacare and into a patient-centered healthcare system,” Tiberi said. “What Obamacare did, it created a lot more power in Washington D.C. in health and human services. Patient-centered means as a patient, he has more choices of doctors – or he can keep his doctor – he can choose what plan, and it’s his choice.”
A common misconception has been that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are two separate issues; a survey of 1,890 adults by Morning Consult on Jan. 25 revealed that 35 percent of respondents either thought Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act were different policies or didn’t know if they were the same or different.
“In Ohio, Medicaid expansion was part of Obamacare, and a majority of counties that benefited from Medicaid expansion were counties that Trump carried,” Tiberi said. “So the Affordable Care Act they’re in favor of, but they don’t like Obamacare, even though the reality is they benefitted from Obamacare.
“We want to make sure people who got coverage through the expansion of Medicaid are still covered in a more market-oriented way, and not a government-oriented way.”
According to Tiberi, in Ohio almost a third of counties will have only one insurer participating in the exchanges in 2017, meaning consumers may only have one expensive option for healthcare that may or may not accept their doctor.
“And if you have one of something, it’s generally not good,” Tiberi said. “If you can choose one potato chip at the store, odds are it’s going to cost more. And that’s exactly what’s happened, deductibles have gone up, premiums have gone up, networks of doctors have shrunk when there’s only one choice.”
Bob Jones noted there has been criticism of the Republicans’ speed – or lack thereof – in repealing the Affordable Care Act.
“But getting it right is better for everyone,” Jones said. “If you could do something a month from now but it’s wrong, I’d rather you do it a year from now and be right, because it’s a big issue for everyone. I don’t want to visit with you three years from now and nothing has happened.”
Some of the pressure has come from the newly-elected President Donald Trump himself, particularly on Twitter.
“The Democrats, lead by head clown (New York Senator) Chuck Schumer, know how bad ObamaCare is and what a mess they are in,” Trump said in a series of tweets on Jan. 5.
“Instead of working to fix it, they do the typical political thing and BLAME,” Trump continued. “The fact is ObamaCare was a lie from the beginning. It is time for Republicans & Democrats to get together and come up with a healthcare plan that really works – much less expensive & FAR BETTER!”
The “Unaffordable” Care Act will soon be history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2017
However, Tiberi said he does not feel pressure from President Trump to rush to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The president was noncommittal when asked by Bill O’Reilly in an interview prior to the Super Bowl if Americans can expect the Affordable Care Act to be replaced within the calendar year, saying it might extend into 2018.
“Our goal is to get it done before that,” Tiberi. “We’re going to start the process later this month in the House.”
Tiberi noted that only in his second full week as president, it’s hard to tell what Trump is actually for. He added the confirmation of Rep. Tom Price as Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary this week would be a huge step forward.
“It’s really important to know that the president supports the direction we’re taking, because we don’t want to go through this process and the president tweets one day that he doesn’t like our plan and he’s going to veto it,” Tiberi said. “That’s why we’re working collaboratively, and we’re making progress.”
The possibility of one tweet derailing any legislative progress is a new normal for workers in Washington, Tiberi said.
“I’m not worried about it, but it’s a new factor in legislating in Washington D.C. that Twitter suddenly for the President of the United States is the mode of communication and lobbying Americans to be for or against something we might be doing, so we just need to be aware of it,” he said.
In the meantime, Tiberi continues to work to unwind the Affordable Care Act. And people like Bob Jones continue on with their lives in the balance.
“To me no matter how you feel about things, you have to go to work and do your job,” Jones said. “Forty years ago our dad said to me, you have to figure out how to make money no matter who’s in office. One group might make it tougher than the other group, but it happens and you have to live with it.”
