Rep. Huffman Statement on TrumpCare

WASHINGTON, March 27 -- Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., issued the following statement:

* * *

Today, Speaker Paul Ryan canceled the vote on President Trump's disastrous health care repeal plan, the American Health Care Act. Rep. Huffman (D-San Rafael) celebrated the victory, which protects the availability and quality of health insurance for tens of thousands of his constituents, and stressed the importance of improving the Affordable Care Act -- which remains the law of the land.

"The failure of the Republican TrumpCare bill today represents a tremendous victory for our families and neighbors whose health insurance would have been taken away, or made completely meaningless, by the proposal," said Rep. Huffman. "This bill's failure means that the thousands upon thousands of phone calls that poured into the Capitol this month made a real difference. That's an important lesson.

"The Republican-led House voted literally dozens of times to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood while President Obama was still in office, knowing that they would not be held responsible for the consequences. Similarly, President Trump ran for office claiming that he would quickly repeal the health care law. Today we learned that all of that rhetoric was empty: the Republican House finally had the opportunity to enact their draconian vision for health care, and within just a few days all they had to offer was politics and blame-shifting spin.

"Nearly every Republican in the House voted to fast-track the approval process this week without knowing what the final bill would do to their constituents. They went along with Speaker Ryan's effort to jam this repeal bill without conducting public hearings, without any guarantee of an updated analysis from the Congressional Budget Office on how many Americans would lose health insurance, and without once talking to those of us on the other side of the aisle about how we'd like to see the Affordable Care Act improved. And in the end, they pulled the TrumpCare bill from the House floor without a final vote.

"The Affordable Care Act, like any major piece of legislation, is not perfect. But we should be working together to improve it, just as we did over the years with other safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security, instead of going backward as we would have with this health care bill. The groundswell of civic engagement we saw this month should demonstrate to President Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress that they must move beyond the rhetoric, and begin working with us to improve our nation's health care system on behalf of our constituents. Let's work together to provide affordable and accessible health care to all Americans."

Rep. Huffman's office received over 2,300 constituent calls in support of the Affordable Care Act and against the Republican plan, compared to fewer than 20 calls in support of the Republican health care plan. His office received over 5,000 emails on the topic as well.

The bill that was pulled from the schedule today would have undermined the health care improvements that the Affordable Care Act has provided to the second congressional district of California, including:

* The uninsured rate in CA-02 dropped by 7.3% since the 2010 passage of the law;

* The law's Medicaid expansion covers 53,900 people in CA-02;

* There are almost 32,000 people in CA-02 enrolled in Covered CA health plans; and

* Since 2010, the number of insured American Indians and Native Alaskans has increased nationally by nearly 250,000, many in CA-02.

The Republican health care bill was opposed by several leading health groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics, AARP, American Medical Association, American Public Health Association, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, and many others.

Watch Rep. Huffman speak out against the Republican health care repeal plan last week below. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ccD4NRcEO0)

07M-Furigay-5817638 07M-Furigay