For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 20, 2017
Contact: Robyn Shapiro, robyn.shapiro@
CBO Analysis is Devastating Indictment of Senate Repeal Bill
Enough is Enough – The GOP Must Stop the War on America’s Health Care
Margarida Jorge and Ethan Rome, co-directors of Health Care for America Now (HCAN), released the following statement after the latest CBO Analysis of the Senate repeal bill.
“The CBO score of the latest Senate repeal bill is a devastating indictment of Republicans’ plan to take away people’s health care. It strips coverage from 22 million people and will increase costs for millions and millions more.
“It shocks the conscience that any Senator would vote to do so much damage to so many people with a single vote – all to give tax breaks to the insurance and drug companies and to claim a political ‘win.’
“For the Republicans this has never really been about health care – it’s been about keeping a political promise to their base, no matter who they hurt in the process. A promise that causes this much human suffering to give tax breaks to the wealthy is not a promise worth keeping. Any Senator even thinking about voting for this bill is willing to do anything to score political points.
“It’s time to move on. The GOP should stop their war on America’s health care and work on bipartisan efforts to make health care more affordable and accessible for all.”
The latest Republican health care repeal bill is essentially the same as the last ones. No amendment or revised version can fix it. Throwing money at a particular problem or state won’t fix what’s fundamentally wrong with this bill. It still takes coverage away from millions of Americans and makes everyone else pay more to get less health care.
The Senate bill still:
- Takes health insurance away from millions of Americans – 22 million by 2026.
- Slashes Medicaid by more than $2 trillion over the next two decades and eliminates Medicaid expansion.
- Strips health care from children, people with disabilities, seniors in nursing homes and other vulnerable people who depend on Medicaid for their health care.
- Lets insurance companies discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions and charge up to five-times more for people over 50.
- Causes big job losses and hospital closures.
- Uses those changes to give huge tax breaks to the drug and insurance companies.
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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.
