Group of Republican Senators Launch Another Attack on the Affordable Care Act
Despite claims of a bipartisan health care bill, Republican Sens.
The new measure, for example, would eliminate the ACA's key premium tax credits and cost sharing reductions, and the ACA's integral individual and employer mandates, which ensure robust market participation needed to assure that those with pre-existing conditions are able to access quality health care. The Graham-Cassidy proposal would also end Medicaid expansion by providing a time-limited block grant that would expire in 2026, leaving states with no federal assistance to provide health care for the 11 million low-income individuals and families who have benefited from Medicaid's expansion. On top of that, the Graham-Cassidy measure imposes a Medicaid per capita cap that was a part of the
National Health Law Program (NHeLP) Executive Director
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NHeLP Managing Attorney of the D.C. office
"People are calling for bipartisan action to improve the ACA, and how that message could be missed by this group of senators is beyond me and likely a lot of others," Youdelman said. "There is no appetite for austere policy that caps and cuts Medicaid, which is exactly what the Graham-Cassidy bill proposes. These proposals should be relegated to the dustbin of history. Let us move to meaningful, forward-looking discussion on how to make the ACA stronger. The evidence is that the ACA is improving lives, so Graham-Cassidy makes no sense."
Youdelman added that the senators' bill also includes "ending Medicaid expansion with a block grant, and the same per capita caps on Medicaid that the CBO score said would end the funding structure of Medicaid as we know it. This would lead to rising uninsured rates and greater health care costs for all of us. Some commentators have noted that the Graham-Cassidy bill is arguably the most radical repeal version yet."
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