For Immediate Release: September 25, 2017
Contact: Morgan Williams Grogan, morgan.williams@
Senate Plans Irresponsible Vote to Destroy America’s Health Care Without Understanding the Impact
Washington, DC – Health Care for America Now (HCAN) co-directors Ethan Rome and Margarida Jorge released the following statement on the Congressional Budget Office’s preliminary score of the repeal bill from Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dean Heller (R-NV) and Ron Johnson (R-WI):
“The Congressional Budget Office’s score is as thin and incomplete as they said it would be, given the rush-job requested by Senate GOP leaders to meet the September 30 deadline to repeal the Affordable Care Act without any Democratic votes. And as Senators Graham and Cassidy try to make last-minute changes to the bill to buy votes, this CBO score is now also out of date. It is reckless and irresponsible that the Senate would vote on this legislation without a comprehensive analysis and understanding of what it would mean for Americans.
“Even without a full CBO score, one thing is clear: This bill would upend America’s entire health care system, disrupt one-sixth of the economy, and have a devastating impact on state governments and America’s consumers. At least 32 million will lose coverage by 2027. States will lose $215 billion through 2026 and more than $4 trillion over a 20-year period. Nearly 600,000 veterans stand to lose Medicaid, and 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions would lose key protections. Medicaid expansion will be ended, and traditional Medicaid eliminated as we know it.
“Not surprisingly, most Americans don’t support this harmful bill — a new survey from Public Policy Polling found that only 24 percent of voters support Graham-Cassidy.
“The Senate began a bipartisan process to fix the Affordable Care Act and increase access to affordable care. That’s the right path to take. The Senate should kill Graham-Cassidy, stop trying to claim a political win at the expense of Americans, and return to its bipartisan effort to improve America’s health care.”
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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.
