LA County would be ‘ground zero’ for lost health care if Senate bill passes, leaders say

June 28--With one in 20 of the nation's Medicaid recipients living in Los Angeles County, local leaders warned Tuesday that the region could become ground zero for loss of medical care if the Senate health care bill passes.

In a news conference outside the downtown Los Angeles Hall of Administration, where health care providers, union members and residents held signs that read #1OutOf20, county supervisors pledged to fight and press state and federal leaders to discourage passage of the Republican health care proposal. Supervisors say the plan cuts Medicaid spending and slices tax increases on high wage earners.

"President Trump said he wants a health care bill with heart," Supervisor Janice Hahn said. "Mr. President, this is one thing we can agree on. But this bill is not that. This bill has no heart. This bill needs a heart transplant -- a procedure average Americans will have a tough time affording if this bill passes."

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In Los Angeles County, 1.5 million residents gained health insurance through the threatened Affordable Care Act and the health care sector drew 63,000 jobs. In addition, Los Angeles benefited from $1 billion in federal funding.

But in a sign they didn't have the support needed for the proposed bill, Senate leaders on Tuesday chose to postpone the vote on the bill from this week until after the Fourth of July holiday.

While that news was welcomed, supervisors still met it with caution. When the proposed bill was released last week, some health care advocates in California described it as cruel, mean and devastating. Los Angeles County leaders said 1.2 million men and women in L.A. County would lose Medi-Cal, and an additional 323,000 people will lose the subsidies that have allowed them to pay for their health plans.

Flanked by Supervisors Sheila Kuehl, Hilda Solis and Mark Ridley-Thomas, Hahn said if the proposed health care plan passes, it will turn "health care into wealth care" because the most vulnerable would lose out most.

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At least 14 million people, or almost a third of California's residents depend on Medi-Cal, the California's name for Medicaid. Under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, Medicaid was expanded, allowing more people to have some type of health coverage. But Republicans have said the ACA is on the brink of collapse, as more health plan carriers pull out of the exchanges. The Republicans' goal is to repeal the ACA and replace it with the American Health Care Act to reduce the cost of premiums and deductibles. But critics say their bill could reverse progress made to help people who once slipped through the cracks of medical care."The slogan for the proposed plan may as well be 'Make America sick again,' " Kuehl said. "If this terrible plan passes, Medicaid, as we know it, will be virtually gutted and L.A. County will be ground zero for the plan's deadly consequences."

Ridley-Thomas said Los Angeles County was once the nation's epicenter of uninsured, but with the help of the Affordable Care Act, the number of uninsured was cut in half.

"We will not retreat," he said. "We will not relent. We will fight for the people of this county because health care is a right, not a privilege."

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Over time, 4 million Los Angeles County residents, including children will risk losing coverage, county leaders added.

Susana Moncada, a health promoter and patient at Clinica Romero, said without the Affordable Care Act, she would not be alive. Holding a large plastic bag of pills that help her manage her diabetes, she implored the community to unite and fight for health care.

"There are those who can buy their medicines, and those who can't," she said. "I come here to beg senators not to unravel the (Affordable Care Act). Health is not a luxury. There are millions and millions of us who need this program."

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