Rep. DelBene: Shame on Senate for Doubling Down on ‘Pay More for Less Healthcare’ Bill

WASHINGTON, June 22 -- Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., issued the following statement after Senate Republicans released their healthcare repeal bill:

"It's shameful the Senate is doubling down on House Republicans' deeply unpopular, dangerous healthcare bill that robs millions of their health insurance, raises costs for middle-class families, decimates Medicaid and guts protections for women and seniors. No wonder Senate leaders insisted on keeping their plan secret, refused to hold hearings and are trying to jam it through before the American people know what's in it," DelBene said. "Families in my district and across the country are right to be outraged. I hope enough senators come to their senses before they vote to destabilize our nation's healthcare system and leave millions of working-class Americans behind. We should be working on measures that give people better coverage at a lower cost, not forcing them to pay more for less."

The Senate plans to vote on the measure next week.

Like the House bill, Senate Republicans' legislation raises out-of-pocket costs, threatens to bring back annual and lifetime limits, imposes an "Age Tax" on older Americans, defunds Planned Parenthood, gives huge tax breaks to the wealthiest households and cuts funding for Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars. That would force states to assume massive costs, or else begin rationing healthcare for 68 million children, pregnant women, seniors and people with disabilities -- including 600,000 in Washington state.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the House-passed version of the bill would cause 14 million Americans to lose health coverage within one year, and 23 million in the next decade. It also hikes insurance premiums by 20 percent. A CBO score for the Senate measure is expected next week.

DelBene serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Budget Committee, where she offered amendments on Medicare, Planned Parenthood and Medicaid to try and improve the legislation. Unfortunately, Republicans blocked all those efforts.