Washington, D.C. — Today, Republican Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced a bill to further the GOP agenda of decimating American health care, raising costs, and leaving millions without the life-saving coverage they need. Instead of reinstating the overwhelmingly popular Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, the bill would undermine the ACA by promoting health savings accounts that benefit the wealthy while funneling lower-income enrollees into junk plans that won’t cover their costs when they’re sick. To make matters even worse, the bill would end current protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, making them choose between paying thousands more for coverage or losing their insurance entirely.
“This bill is an utter joke that would set health care progress back by decades and leave Americans high and dry without the care and coverage they deserve,” said Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse. “Republicans are proving once again how unserious they are. Instead of protecting hard-working families, Senators Cassidy and Crapo want to force them off the insurance plans they like and onto junk plans that leave them at risk of crippling medical debt. That’s not what American families want, and it’s certainly not what they deserve.”
Background
Republicans Want To Replace The Tax Credits That Help Over 20 Million Americans Afford Health Insurance With Junk Accounts and Plans That Won’t Cover Their Costs When They’re Sick. GOP “freedom” accounts will only benefit the rich and will fail to cover even one hospital stay for the average American, who lives paycheck to paycheck. Instead of having access to quality health coverage for as little as $0 a month, millions of Americans will lose their coverage altogether or be forced into low-quality plans that skyrocket their out-of-pocket costs. GOP-proposed cost-sharing reductions and income caps will also kick additional hundreds of thousands of Americans off their coverage. What Americans need most is affordable, comprehensive health coverage that brings costs down, not up.
The GOP Health Care Scam Will Saddle People With Huge Medical Bills, Driving Them Into Debt:
- Republicans want to push people into plans that cost $5400 a year in premiums and require people to pay an average of $7,500 of their own pocket before coverage kicks in — and only give them $1,000 in assistance.
- Here is the reality of health care costs Americans are facing:
- Americans cannot afford the GOP health care scam and skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs. 1 in 3 households are already facing medical debt.