Rep. Espaillat Issues Statement on GOP Trumpcare Bill to Repeal ACA

WASHINGTON, May 4 -- Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., issued the following statement on the House vote on the Republican Trumpcare bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and strip health insurance coverage from more than 24 million hard-working Americans:

"Protecting the ACA is the top issue for my constituents. Constituents like Ms. Leslie Gauthier, who without the protections of the ACA, would not have received treatment for Leukemia when she was diagnosed at the age of 22. Leslie is now in remission. For her and individuals like her, the ACA's protections, like the essential health benefits, were a matter of life and death. This Republican Trumpcare bill will destroy those patient protections that Leslie relied upon and for millions of hard-working Americans.

"From the beginning, we have known that this bill will be a poison pill and will mean higher health costs for American families. Trumpcare is disastrous and will be a gut punch to pregnant women seeking health care, patients with preexisting conditions, senior citizens who will pay more for less, and more than 24 million people, including 6.5 million Latinos, who will lose their health coverage. This bill is frightening and will cut $880 billion in Medicaid over ten years, having a devastating impact on families who need affordable, dependable health care the most.

"The damage this bill will cause is even worse than the last version Republicans put forth and will put our country on a fast track to disaster."