Sen. Menendez: Latest GOP Health Plan Still Stinks; ‘Splash of Cologne on a Skunk’

WASHINGTON, July 13 -- The office of Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee that sets national health policy, issued the following statement after Senate Republicans released yet another iteration of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), their wildly unpopular plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA):

"Revision after revision, the destructive impact of the Republican health bill remains the same: millions of Americans go uninsured and consumers pay higher premiums and deductibles for less coverage. It's time for Republicans to listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans who want them to abandon their cruel, misguided and partisan repeal effort once and for all.

"This latest proposal is like a splash of cologne on a skunk; it still stinks. It eviscerates the guarantee of coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions while forcing consumers into bare-bones plans that fail to cover essential benefits like hospital stays, visits to specialists, prescription drugs, prenatal care, mental health treatment, and more. Without the guarantee of coverage for essential benefits like addiction treatment and mental health care, the added funding fails to provide the resources needed to tackle New Jersey's and nation's opioid epidemic. The bill still imposes a punishing age-tax on middle-aged Americans while saddling working families with higher premiums and deductibles; eliminates the Medicaid expansion that gave millions of low-wage workers - including over half a million New Jerseyans - access to basic care for the first time; and ends the federal Medicaid guarantee as we know it, forcing states to abandon seniors in nursing homes and Americans with disabilities who rely on long-term care.

"It shouldn't be too much to ask that a health care bill actually improve health care. Democrats remain committed to improving upon the Affordable Care Act and working in a bipartisan way to expand coverage, lower costs, and ultimately build a healthier, more productive nation."