Millions of Individuals and Families Would Lose Health Care Coverage
Washington – Because Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) are trying to ram their proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act through the Senate before a deadline for fast-track procedural rules expires, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office was unable to provide its typically thorough analysis of the measure.
National Health Law Program (NHeLP) Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor, said the limited CBO score along with other analyses nevertheless reveal that the Graham-Cassidy repeal effort is bad if not worse than previous repeal measures, meaning at least 32 million people could lose care if Graham-Cassidy were implemented.
“Regardless of the senators’ rhetoric, the Graham-Cassidy proposal is a dangerous repeal bill – taking out integral provisions of the Affordable Care Act or allowing states to opt out of them thereby endangering the health care of tens of millions of individuals and families. As Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said during yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee, it makes no sense to jeopardize that progress.”
NHeLP Managing Attorney of the D.C. office Mara Youdelman noted that the limited CBO report also acknowledged that Graham-Cassidy would impose draconian cuts on Medicaid, up to $1 trillion over the next decade.
“The CBO score highlights that one of the primary reasons Graham-Cassidy will reduce health care coverage in the country is because of the cuts it envisions for Medicaid. When you take a trillion dollars from Medicaid over a decade, it stands to reason that far fewer people will have health care coverage. Senator Graham is clear that part of his goal is to shrink Medicaid. We urge senators to support Medicaid, a 50-year-old health care program that has been instrumental in bringing down the number of uninsured in this country. Medicaid is improving the lives of long disadvantaged people and in turn they are making their communities stronger, which benefits us all.”
Please contact NHeLP’s Director of Communications Jeremy Leaming for additional comment about the CBO report and the Graham-Cassidy effort to repeal the ACA and gut Medicaid.
