The Side Effects of House Republicans 56th Vote Attacking the Affordable Care Act
Today, House Republicans will hold their 56th vote to undermine or repeal patient protections and cost savings that the Affordable Care Act has brought to millions of Americans. Here’s a look at what their bill to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act would mean for working families:
H.R. 596 would…
- Take away health care coverage from an estimated 10 million previously uninsured Americans who received health insurance during 2014, stripping them of the security and peace of mind they now have
- Effectively end federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which benefits more than 8 million American
- Kick 3 million young Americans off of their parents’ health care plans
- Add more than $100 billion to the deficit over the ten years ending in 2022 and more than $1 trillion in the following decade [CBO, 7/24/12]
- Increase taxes on working families by $134 billion by repealing the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits [CBO, January 2015]
- Increase taxes on small business by $15 billion by repealing tax credits to provide coverage [CBO, January 2015]
- Put 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions at risk of again being discriminated against or denied coverage
- Allow insurance companies to impose lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on coverage on 105 million Americans
- Make seniors pay more for preventive care and add billions of dollars to their prescription drug costs, when 8.2 million seniors have saved $11.5 billion on prescription drugs – an average of $1,407
- Shut down Health Insurance Marketplaces where millions of Americans now compare private insurance plans and get tax credits to purchase them
- Remove policies that have helped slow health care cost growth and improve the quality of care patients receive
- Cut payments to primary care providers in Medicare, threatening seniors’ access to their doctors
- Threaten the solvency of the Medicare trust fund, which has been extended 13 years since enactment of the ACA
- Cause states to lose substantial federal assistance under Medicaid to provide coverage for the neediest Americans
When House Republicans held their first vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2011, they said they would introduce an alternative to replace the health care law. Four years – and 56 votes – later, they have yet to offer any plan or proposal that could serve as a substitute.
After more than fifty votes, it’s time for House Republicans to stop their efforts to repeal or undermine the law, which has benefited more than 10 million previously uninsured Americans who now have access to quality, affordable health care coverage, as well as millions of others who have benefited from consumer protections under the Affordable Care Act.
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