National Health Law Program Condemns Congressional Effort to Topple Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 -- The National Health Law Program issued the following news release:

In a brazen act of political sabotage of health care reform, Republicans in Congress today set in motion the act of repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without putting forward any replacement plan, jeopardizing the coverage of millions of Americans and a return to days of high uninsured rates.

"The budget resolution introduced today is a disgraceful act of political cowardice and dishonesty - the American public is now the victim of a grievous bait-and-switch," National Health Law Program Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor said. "Voters were promised a great replacement for the ACA. Instead, Republicans are rushing to strip health care coverage from 30 million Americans, 82 percent of whom are working families, but offering no plan for those millions of lives or the impending burden of a health care system that the states will be hard pressed to shoulder. If passed, this resolution would cause health care premiums to increase by more than 50 percent for millions of Americans. It would increase taxes by more than $3,000 for millions who purchase their own insurance. It would take health coverage away from millions of low and moderate income Americans by cutting funding for the Medicaid expansion. And it would double the number of uninsured children, leaving an additional 4 million children uninsured.

We call on Congress to refuse to follow the politically crass and callous lead of this budget resolution, and instead stop any actions to repeal the Affordable Care Act, without a plan for replacing the ACA with a law that does not leave these millions out in the cold. Americans of all walks of life deserve an open and honest debate about what the federal government is going to do to the health care security that more than 30 million Americans have gained because of the Affordable Care Act. They were promised a replacement, but they are not getting one. The hostile take down of landmark health care reform must be stopped. Level-headed lawmakers must and should do better."

Taylor also noted that the ignoble budget resolution attack on the ACA is part of a more encompassing, troubling austerity agenda.

"Medicaid was a major part of the ACA - it expanded Medicaid coverage to at least 20 million Americans who otherwise would not be able to afford health care coverage. Their lives have been turned around as emerging evidence of health outcomes tell us. Republicans, however, want to greatly undermine the scope of the Medicaid guarantee. They want more people off Medicaid," she said.

See the NHeLP series "Protect Medicaid Funding," comprised of 10 brief fact sheets about the efforts to cut or cap federal Medicaid funding, and what it would mean for the Medicaid guarantee. Also in our recent "Health Advocate," NHeLP Health Policy Director Leonardo Cuello explains how limiting Medicaid funding would destroy the efforts to improve the delivery of health care services.

Please contact the NHeLP Communications department at [email protected] or 202-552-5176 for further comment regarding the political efforts to undo health care reform and the Medicaid guarantee.

NHeLP, founded in 1969, advocates for the rights of low-income and underserved people to access quality health care.

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