For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Contact: Robyn Shapiro, robyn.shapiro@
More Time or Tweaks Won’t Make Repeal Bill Less of a Disaster for America’s Health Care
Margarida Jorge and Ethan Rome, co-directors of Health Care for America Now (HCAN) released the following statement after the Senate delayed its vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA).
“The decision by Republican Senate leadership to postpone a vote on the repeal bill shows that GOP senators are getting the message – the GOP repeal bill is bad for America’s health care.
“Majority Leader McConnell will use this delay to try to cut senator-specific backroom deals to buy the votes he needs. He’ll use the health care cuts in the bill as a slush fund for these deals that do nothing to fundamentally change the disastrous reality of this bill. Senators should resist.
“As the CBO score makes clear, this bill can’t be fixed by tinkering around the edges or throwing money at a specific state or problem. This bill fundamentally reshapes America’s health care and one-sixth of the economy to take from the poor and middle class to give to the very rich.
“Just like the House bill, the Senate GOP bill does the exact opposite of what a good health care measure should do – it makes people pay more to get less. The Senate bill will take health care away from 22 million Americans, weaken coverage and consumer protections for everyone with private insurance, increase premiums by 20 percent in the next year, defund Planned Parenthood, and end Medicaid as we know it – all to give tax breaks to the very wealthy and insurance and drug companies.
“The GOP bill is wrong for America and the Senate should reject it.”
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Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is the national grassroots coalition that ran a $60 million five-and-a-half year campaign from 2008-2013 to pass, protect, and promote the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and protect Medicare and Medicaid. HCAN has come back together to fight the Republicans’ all-out effort to take away America’s health care and put people at the mercy of the health insurance companies again.
