Schumer urges House Republicans to vote against health care bill

Watertown Daily Times (NY)

March 23--Tweet

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., is making a last-ditch effort to sway House Republicans from voting for the American Health Care Act when it hits the House floor today.

The Senate minority leader said the GOP's replacement of the Affordable Care Act is a "modern-day Trojan horse" that will deprive over a million upstate New Yorkers of health care coverage, including seniors, children, individuals with disabilities and those receiving treatment for opioid addiction.

The plan would cut Medicaid by $370 billion over the next 10 years. Sen. Schumer said rural hospitals and nursing homes will be especially at risk of shutting down because fewer people are covered by Medicaid.

"The bottom line is that this bill will make us sicker and will hammer the upstate economy, which is so centered on its hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities," Sen. Schumer said.

The bill still has to be passed by the Senate if approved by the House tonight.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Northern New York could get hit hard by the health care plan.

In the 21st Congressional District, which covers 12 counties in Northern New York including Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, Trumpcare would cut health care benefits for 66,600 people. That number includes 6,500 children, 1,400 individuals with disabilities and 2,200 seniors.

U.S. Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, has not yet said whether she will vote for the health care plan.

Her spokesman, Tom Flanagin, told the Times on Tuesday that she is still reviewing the bill and collecting constituent feedback.

Sen. Schumer's plea follows an uproar over a new provision to the health care bill that would see county Medicaid costs shifted to the state -- a $2.3 billion transfer.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has blasted U.S. Reps. Christopher C. Collins, R-Lancaster, and John Faso, R-Kinderhook, for getting the amendment included in the final bill.

Earlier Wednesday, Gov. Cuomo said, in response to the provision, that there could be a state income tax increase of 10 percent imposed on all New Yorkers to cover the $2.3 billion.

On the Collins-Faso amendment, Sen. Schumer said the provision is simply a tax burden shift and does not account for Medicaid cuts.

Late Wednesday, Gov. Cuomo released an analysis by the state Department of Health that he claims shows that 15 hospitals in Rep. Stefanik's Congressional district would lose $20.2 million total in funding if the repeal is passed.

According to the governor, the following hospitals are among those that would lose funding, along with the projected funding cuts: Clifton-Fine Hospital, Star Lake, $99,048; Massena Memorial Hospital, $891,651; Lewis County General Hospital, Lowville, $587,709; Adirondack Medical Center, Saranac Lake, $1.22 million; Alice Hyde Medical Center, Malone, $1.28 million; Canton-Potsdam Hospital, $1.89 million; Carthage Area Hospital, $255,471; Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ogdensburg, $1.27 million; River Hospital, Alexandria Bay, $204,196; and Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, $2.48 million.