Will Congressman Don Young Put Loyalty to Trump & Ryan Above Health Care Access for Alaskans?

JUNEAU, Alaska, May 3 -- The Alaska Democratic Party issued the following news release:

This week, Republicans in Congress are trying to force another vote on their disastrous health care bill, a.k.a. TrumpCare 2.0, which would take health care away from 24 million Americans and raise premiums on older Americans.

Congressman Don Young still isn't quite sure where he stands, even telling a HuffPost reporter last week that he's "all over the place on health care".

The first time Republicans in Congress tried to push this bill through, the bill had a dismal 17 percent approval from the public, it was opposed by non-partisan groups like the American Medical Association and AARP, and Republicans couldn't get enough votes from their own caucus to pass it.

Now they took a bad bill and made it worse. In order to appease the most right-wing members of their caucus, Republicans changed the bill to allow states to opt out of protecting Americans who have pre-existing conditions like diabetes, asthma, and others.

The bill is still opposed by health groups, and 70 percent of Americans oppose the GOP's newest scheme to allow states to opt out of protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions.

Alaska Democratic Party Chair Casey Steinau calls on Congressman Young to make the right decision. "Republicans in Congress took a bill that raises health care costs and made it worse, and Alaska will suffer disproportionately under this new proposal. It was bad enough that Republicans were ready to take health care away from 24 million and raise premiums on older Americans - now they want to threaten coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions. The question remains: will Congressman Young put his loyalty to Donald Trump and Paul Ryan before Alaskans' health care?"