Sen. Gillibrand Issues Statement on Senate Version of American Health Care Act

WASHINGTON, June 22 -- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., issued the following statement on the Senate version of the American Health Care Act:

"Access to quality, affordable health care in America should be a right, not a privilege. The Senate bill presented today, which was crafted behind closed doors by 13 men, would fundamentally harm Americans young and old, do severe damage to a fragile economy, and bankrupt state governments across the country.

"It is unfathomable that the Senate GOP wants to ask middle class and low-income workers to pay more money for less coverage, all to cut taxes for insurance companies and the wealthiest among us. I could not think of a more out-of-touch or insulting proposal to working Americans already struggling with the high cost of health care today.

"The cuts to Medicaid in particular are galling. Today, Medicaid serves one in five Americans - not only the poor, but two-thirds of those in nursing homes, more than 30 million children, and countless individuals with disabilities. To end the Medicaid expansion created under the Affordable Care Act is a cruel joke, as is the blatantly partisan attack on women's health by defunding Planned Parenthood and allowing waivers to opt out of essential benefit requirements that cover maternity care.

"On behalf of my constituents, who have spoken out overwhelmingly against the cruel proposals in the American Health Care Act, I will do everything in my power to block this bill from becoming law. If you thought the House bill was bad, or "mean," as President Trump put it, the Senate bill is even worse."