Washington – House Republicans claim they have the answer to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has expanded health care coverage to nearly 30 million Americans, dropping the country’s uninsured rate to the lowest in more than 50 years.
A House Republican 19-page policy paper paints the ACA as a failure and claims that undoing integral provisions of the ACA will lead to “relief” for tens of millions of Americans. Medicaid benefits for America’s most vulnerable are particularly targeted. If enacted, the proposal would drastically cut Medicaid funding, reverse Medicaid expansion, and result in tens of millions of Americans losing health care coverage.
“This repeal package might be ‘a better way’ for Republicans to package a repeal but it does so only at the great expense of Americans, and in particular, individuals and families living on limited incomes,” National Health Law Program (NHeLP) Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor. “This repeal effort will destroy the provisions that have helped expand health coverage in this country and radically weaken funding of Medicaid – moves that are almost guaranteed to return us to times of high uninsured rates and rising health care costs.
The idea that Republicans are coming to the rescue of the ACA marketplace is outlandish. Instead of proposing progressive action to strengthen the ACA marketplace, Republican leaders are pushing dramatic cuts dressed up as giving state governments more flexibility. Flexibility with draconian cuts won’t allow states to ensure quality health care coverage to people trying to survive on insufficient incomes. This latest effort is still a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing.”
Legal Director Jane Perkins said Republicans continue to lambast Medicaid as a failed program, when, in reality, Medicaid maintains low per-enrollee costs while ensuring its millions of enrollees with high quality care on par with that provided to the privately insured. And, this includes those covered through the ACA’s Medicaid expansion.
“By every measurable criterion, the states that are expanding Medicaid are not only helping improve the lives of their most vulnerable, they are also strengthening their economies by adding millions of new jobs in and out of the health care sector,” Perkins said. “This House Republican proposal for limiting Medicaid funding and reversing its expansion will not result in better outcomes for anyone.”
See the following NHeLP papers regarding the success of the ACA and Medicaid:
50 Reasons Medicaid Expansion is Good for Your State
Health Advocate: Medicaid Works!
Helping Those on HCBS Waiting Lists: Positive Impacts of the ACA
Congressional Plans to Repeal the ACA Will Harm Victims of Black Lung
Medicaid & the ACA: Vital Tools in Addressing the Opioid Epidemic
Ten Ways the Affordable Care Act Helps Older Adults and People with Disabilities
Protect Medicaid Funding Series
Fact Sheet: Per Capita Caps vs. Block Grants in Medicaid
Please contact NHeLP Communications Director Jeremy Leaming at [email protected] or 202-552-5176 for additional comment regarding the political efforts to undo health care reform.
NHeLP, founded in 1969, advocates for the rights of low-income and underserved people to access quality health care.
