Rep. Cummings Issues Response to Republican Plan to Repeal ACA

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 -- Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking Democratic member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued the following news release:

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Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement in response to reports that Republicans plan to partially repeal the Affordable Care Act through the budget reconciliation process:

"The Republicans have had six years, but they still haven't put forth a feasible replacement to Obamacare.

"That's because their real goal has always been to strike down President Obama's signature legislative achievement--even if they eliminate health insurance for the American people in the process, including millions of children."

Today, the Urban Institute issued a new report on the massive damage that would be caused by the Republican plan to partially repeal the ACA through reconciliation, which would roll back the Medicaid expansion, gut the ACA's financial support for consumers, and irreparably destabilize the remaining market reforms. The report found:

* Approximately 4 million children under the age of 18 would lose coverage, causing the uninsurance rate among kids to spike from 4% to 9%. Children would comprise 13% of those who would lose coverage under partial repeal.

* The uninsured population would increase by 29.8 million in 2019, and the total number of uninsured people in 2019 would be 58.7 million, an increase of 103%.

* More people would be uninsured in 2019 than were uninsured in 2009 before the passage of the ACA.

* The share of nonelderly people who are uninsured would jump from 11% to 21%--a higher percentage than before the ACA.

* 82% of people who would lose insurance are from working families, 38% would be between the ages of 18 and 34, more than half (56%) would be non-Hispanic whites, and 80% of adults who would lose insurance would not have college degrees.

* 12.9 million people would lose Medicaid or CHIP coverage in 2019.

* Approximately 9.3 million people would lose premium assistance in the form of tax credits in 2019.

* State and local governments could be faced with $1.1 trillion more in uncompensated care costs between 2019 and 2028.

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