- The Senate Republicans are negotiating over a bill to repeal the ACA and permanently cut Medicaid that looks a lot like the bill Republicans passed in the House last month to take healthcare from 23 million people, allow insurance companies to charge people with pre-existing conditions and older people more for healthcare and end the Medicaid as we know it for seniors, kids, people with disabilities–all to give over billions in tax breaks to the rich and corporations.
- Senators are trying to keep their negotiations a secret until the last minute so their constituents won’t find out that their plan to “fix” healthcare is no more than “lipstick on a pig,” a dressed up version of the same bad bill voters just rejected in the House.
- Every Senator should face his/her constituents and tell the truth about what they are negotiating in the Senate. Constituents have a right to know which side their Senators are on: affordable healthcare for families or tax breaks for the insurance and prescription drug companies?
Health Care Repeal – The Senate Fight
Senate Republicans are writing a health care repeal bill in secret so they can give huge tax breaks to the wealthy at the expense of everyone else’s health care, just like the House’s repeal bill. The latest CBO score proves that no matter what version of health care repeal Republicans put forward the result will be the same: dramatically increased costs, millions fewer covered and gutting protections. That’s because Republicans are looking out for the wrong people and don’t understand the challenges people face. The Senate should stop their secret Republicans-only effort to repeal health care and work with Democrats to keep what works and fix what doesn’t. People won’t forget if their elected official puts tax breaks for the wealthy ahead of quality, affordable health care for everyone else.
Republicans are ignoring the American people and those who know health care best. They all agree the Senate should abandon repeal and work across party lines to keep what works and fix what doesn’t in our health care.
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According to a a May 25 Quinnipiac Poll, only one out of five voters supports this health care repeal.
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Those who know health care best – including the AARP, American Medical Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and American Hospital Association – are unified in opposing the Republican repeal bill.
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Political observers on both sides of the aisle are predicting that voters are more likely to vote members of Congress out of office if they back repeal and that the House is in play.
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The Senate is following the same disastrous path as the House, pushing to gut coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and planning to do the same long-term damage to Medicaid.
Any version of health care repeal is the same: people pay more for worse care. The Senate must reject any bill that gives huge tax cuts to the wealthy by cutting coverage, raising costs and ending protections.
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Cuts Coverage: 23 million people will have their coverage taken away according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office – 14 million within the next year.
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Increases Costs: Premiums will go up by 20 percent in the next year; while those over 50 will pay even more.
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Eliminates Protections. Insurance companies could go back to charging people with preexisting conditions much higher premiums – someone with asthma could have to pay over $4,000 more for coverage.
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Handouts for the Rich: Gives nearly $700 billion to the wealthy and big corporations. The bill even includes a special tax break for health insurance companies that pay their CEOs more than $500,000 per year.
If you’re over 50, a woman or someone with a health issue, the Republican plan is to make you pay even more.
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The repeal bill lets insurance companies charge people over 50 as much as five times more than everyone else – what AARP estimates is an $8,400 “unaffordable age tax.”
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Repeal also lets insurance companies go back to putting annual and lifetime limits on health care coverage, meaning families can be bankrupted by a major illness even if they have insurance.
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Women could be charged more than men for their insurance because insurance companies would no longer be required to include pregnancy or childbirth as part of basic health insurance.
The GOP plan doesn’t stop at repeal – it defunds Medicaid which means that millions of kids, seniors in nursing homes and people with disabilities will lose their health coverage or be forced to pay a lot more.
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Repeal slashes Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion – cuts that reduce funding for nursing home care, care for people with disabilities, mental health care, and treatment for substance use disorders.
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The impact of these cuts will be staggering: Medicaid pays for 60% of all nursing home care, 60% of care for disabled kids and half of all pregnancies.
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Republican Senators say that these cuts will mean that states will have to pick up a 400% cost increase.
The Senate should drop its secret partisan process and commit to hold hearings and getting a nonpartisan analysis from the Congressional Budget Office before they vote on any bill to repeal health care.
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Just like the House, Senate Republican’s are writing their bill in secret with no public hearings and without listening to experts to learn what repeal will mean to their constituents.
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The Senate bill is being written by a Republican-only panel of white-men hand-picked by Republican leadership.
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It is time for Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress to start working with Democrats to find ways to strengthen and improve the Affordable Care Act by keeping what works and fixing what doesn’t, instead of trying to repeal it.