Toomey calls bill a work in progress; Casey, Wolf criticize plan
In a phone briefing, he admitted the
Toomey said in some cases, Pennsylvanians had seen a 120 percent increase in premiums. "We had to do something. We want to move toward a consumer-driven market. Hopefully, when we're through, people will have choices," he said.
Toomey's
"This health care scheme sells out the middle class, hurts seniors and children and devastates individuals with disabilities to finance tax breaks for the very rich," Casey said in a statement. "The bill decimates Medicaid, which provides health care for over 722,000 Pennsylvanians with a disability and 1.1 million children."
Casey said the bill is nearly identical to the House bill "that raises premiums for middle-class families, cuts nursing home care for seniors and will force children with disabilities to be institutionalized. This scheme still includes an age tax on Americans between the ages of 50 and 64, undermines protections for those with pre-existing conditions and takes away coverage for substance abuse treatment, which is vital in combating the opioid epidemic."
Harsh criticism also was doled out by Wolf. "The deeper and more devastating cuts to Medicaid in this plan make it even crueler than the House plan," he said. "Some politicians in
"Over the past few weeks," Wolf continued, "I have joined Republican and Democratic governors in opposing cuts to Medicaid, but we have been shut out of the process and unable to give our residents a voice. It is time for
"We join other Pennsylvania hospitals in expressing concern that the proposed legislation stands to leave hundreds of thousands of our most vulnerable populations without dependable health insurance and sustainable access to care," she added.
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