Skip to main content
Tag

Senate Republicans

ashoup
In News

Senate Rams Through Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, Ripping Coverage from Millions to Fund Tax Breaks for Wealthy

The GOP’s Tax Scam Represents the Largest Cuts to Health Care in American History 

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Republicans voted to pass, barely, Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill, which will fund massive tax breaks for the wealthiest individuals and corporations by ripping health care from 17 million Americans and slashing Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Despite widespread opposition from the American people, including voters across the political spectrum, Senate Republicans voted to pass the deepest cuts to health care in American history. In response, Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement: 

“Today, by the thinnest of margins, Senate Republicans voted to pass the biggest, ugliest bill in history. Republican Senators just voted to kick seniors out of nursing homes, rip health care away from disabled children, close rural hospitals, and snatch coverage away from 17 million Americans, all so Donald Trump and Republicans can give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. It’s a disgusting display of political chutzpah from a party that bullshitted its way through the last election proclaiming they would look out for working families and help make life more affordable for ordinary Americans.

It’s the lie of the decade, but one that will blow up on Republicans once millions of Americans realize their health care was ripped away so more billionaires can rent out entire European cities for lavish weddings. As this bill moves back to the House for a final vote, the choice for so-called Republican moderates is clear: protect the health care of the people you serve or give tax breaks to billionaires.”

BACKGROUND:

Here are five key ways the GOP tax scam will decimate health care for Americans:

  1. Republicans will cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The big, ugly bill will destroy the pillars of American health care with the largest cuts to health care in history, jeopardizing programs that nearly 100 million Americans rely on for their care – all to give trillions in tax breaks to billionaires and hugely profitable companies. To top it off, Republicans battled the Senate parliamentarian to sneak in a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies at the ninth hour, driving up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.
  2. Republicans will rip away health care from 17 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, leaving them with nowhere to turn for treatment for cancer or diabetes. According to new estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, roughly a million more people will lose health care coverage under the Senate-passed bill.
  3. Republicans will hike premiums through the roof for over 20 million Americans by eliminating tax credits that make health care affordable for middle-class families, small business owners, and rural Americans. Premiums will nearly double on average for 22 million Americans and out-of-pocket costs will skyrocket for millions more, leaving 5 million additional Americans uninsured and unable to see a doctor when they need to.
  4. Republicans could shutter over 330 rural hospitals and 570 nursing homes across the country. The GOP bill will cut hundreds of billions in critical funding for hospitals and nursing homes, bury them under the burden of uncompensated care, and force hundreds to close their doors. Expectant mothers will be forced to travel further to get to the nearest maternity ward. Patients will have to travel hundreds of miles to get to an emergency room. Seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes.
  5. Republicans will force at least 5.4 million more people into medical debt. Medical debt already affects 100 million people in America. 17 million people are expected to lose coverage due to GOP proposals and families losing coverage could see their medical debt increase as much as $22,280. American medical debt is expected to skyrocket by 15 percent, resulting in an additional $50 billion of medical debt.
ashoup
In News

HEADLINES: The Senate Version of the GOP Tax Scam Gets Worse By the Day

As Senate Republicans Race to Pass Their “Big, Ugly, Bill,” the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office Confirmed That Republicans Are Cutting $1 Trillion from Medicaid and Ripping Health Care From 17 Million To Fund Tax Breaks for Billionaires

As Senate Republicans worked through the weekend to push their “Big, Ugly Bill” to a vote, nationwide coverage continues to demonstrate just how devastating and unpopular this bill is for the American people. The House’s version of the bill was bad for health care and for ordinary Americans, but Senate Republicans managed to make it even worse, expanding the health care cuts and kicking even more hardworking Americans off their health care. New analysis from the nonpartisan CBO found that 17 million Americans would lose their health care – one million more than under the House’s version – and more than $1 trillion would be cut from Medicaid, confirming that Senate Republicans made the bill even worse for hospitals and Americans’ health care. 

Not only does this weekend’s coverage highlight how unpopular the bill is across the political spectrum, it calls out Republicans for their continued lies about what this bill would do. This bill gives billionaires and big corporations massive tax breaks by ripping health care from millions of children, seniors, people with disabilities, people fighting cancer or addiction, and hardworking families who don’t get coverage through their employers. Not only will people lose their care, hundreds of hospitals and nursing homes will shut down and middle-class and low-income Americans will face higher costs. The pressure is on so-called moderates like Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to listen to the outcry from their states and  reject this devastating bill.

NATIONAL HEADLINES

New York Times: G.O.P. Bill Has $1.1 Trillion in Health Cuts and 11.8 Million Losing Care, C.B.O. Says 

  • Republicans’ marquee domestic policy bill that is making its way through the Senate would result in deeper cuts and more Americans losing health insurance coverage than the original measure that passed the House last month, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. According to a report published late Saturday night, the legislation would mean 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034. Federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare would be reduced by more than $1.1 trillion over that period — with more than $1 trillion of those cuts coming from Medicaid alone.

Washington Post: Senate GOP Tax Bill Includes Largest Cut To U.S. Safety Net In Decades

  • The Senate Republican tax bill speeding to passage includes the biggest reduction of funding for the federal safety net since at least the 1990s, targeting more than $1 trillion in social spending. Although the legislation is still estimated to cost more than $3 trillion over the next decade, the Senate GOP tax bill partially pays for its large price tag by slashing spending on Medicaid and food stamps, which congressional Republicans maintain are rife with fraud.

KFF Health News: In a First, Trump and GOP-Led Congress Prepare To Swell Ranks of U.S. Uninsured

  • More than 26 million Americans lacked health insurance in the first six months of 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The uninsured are mostly low-income adults under age 65, and people of color, and most live in the South and West. The uninsured rate in the 10 states that, like Georgia, have not expanded Medicaid to nearly all low-income adults was 14.1% in 2023, compared with 7.6% in expansion states, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Health policy researchers expect the number of uninsured to swell as the second Trump administration and a GOP-controlled Congress try to enact policies that explicitly roll back health coverage for the first time since the advent of the modern U.S. health system in the early 20th century. Under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — budget legislation that would achieve some of President Donald Trump’s priorities, like extending tax cuts mainly benefiting the wealthy — some 10.9 million Americans would lose health insurance by 2034, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office based on a House version of the budget bill. A Senate version of the bill could result in more people losing Medicaid coverage, with reductions in federal spending and rules that would make it harder for people to qualify.

The Bulwark: A $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Is THIS Close to Happening. Here’s What It’d Look Like 

  • Enid Rodriguez Medicaid can make, because it’s made a huge difference for her. […] “Medicaid has literally been a lifesaver,” she told me this week, when we met at the Community Care Clinic of Rowan County, where she used to get care. But there was a tinge of anxiety in her voice, because, she said, she is worried the cuts in Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill will leave her without coverage. “I wouldn’t be able to see the cardiologist who makes sure my heart is okay, the gastroenterologist who’s treating my gastrointestinal problems, the weight-loss specialist,” Rodriguez said. Medicaid isn’t perfect, she said, and she doesn’t expect government programs to provide everything she and her husband need. But, she said, “we shouldn’t have to work fifty-, sixty-hour weeks to pay our bills, and still struggle to take care of ourselves when it comes to our medical expenses.” But worry she must. Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans like Rodriguez is in jeopardy. In fact, it could be doomed in a matter of days.

Semafor: Senate Republicans Set Up Surprise Vote On Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion

  • Senate Republicans are setting up a surprise vote within the next 24 hours that could effectively end Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid for future recipients, with Majority Leader John Thune backing it. Thune’s endorsement aligns with key Senate conservatives who want even more aggressive Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s party-line tax and spending cuts bill. The vote can pass with only three GOP defections — and if it succeeds, it could prompt a rebellion against the bill among House Republican moderates.

New York Times: Why a G.O.P. Medicaid Requirement Could Set States Up for Failure

  • The strict Medicaid work requirement at the center of the Republicans’ major policy bill wouldn’t just require millions of poor Americans to prove they are employed to sign up for health insurance. It would also require dozens of states to quickly build expensive and complex software systems to measure and track who is eligible. This new responsibility for states, whose existing Medicaid computer systems are often outdated, would be accompanied by reduced federal funding through other changes in the bill. The result, according to state officials, software developers and policy experts, could be major failures in state systems for enrolling people in Medicaid.

Politico: Trump Pollster Warns Senate GOP Against Deeper Medicaid Cuts

  • Jim McLaughlin, one of President Donald Trump’s top pollsters, said Hill Republicans should nix Senate Republicans’ deeper Medicaid cuts in the megabill or risk deep backlash from voters. “The Senate needs to go back to the House version on Medicaid in the [One Big Beautiful Bill Act], just like the president wants,” Jim McLaughlin, who runs McLaughlin & Associates, told POLITICO Saturday. He continued: “The working class Americans who gave President Trump his overwhelming victory as well as majorities in the House and Senate deserve nothing less.”

Politico: Louisiana Hospitals Warn Mike Johnson Of ‘Devastation’ From Megabill

  • Every major health system in Louisiana is warning Speaker Mike Johnson and the rest of the state’s congressional delegation that the Senate GOP’s planned Medicaid cuts “would be historic in their devastation.” The group sent the warning in a letter that also went to Majority Leader Steve Scalise and GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who has also raised concerns about the cuts. The health systems said the Senate’s revised text hits states like Louisiana even harder than previous iterations and would slash more than $4 billion in Medicaid funding for the state’s health care providers.

IN THE STATES

ALASKA

  • New York Times: Opinion: Alaska Cannot Survive This Bill
  • Alaska Public Media: Legislators Argue Cuts In GOP Megabill Would Mean ‘Chaos’ For Alaska
  • Alaska Public Media: Advocates Worry ‘Big, Beautiful’ GOP Bill Would Push Alaskans Off Medicaid
  • Alaska Beacon: Alaska Becomes A Focus Of Last-Minute Changes To Big Federal Bill, As U.S. Senate Starts Debate
  • The Alaska Memo: The ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill Is Big And Ugly For Alaska
  • Anchorage Daily News: Opinion: The Proposed Medicaid Cuts Would Be A Disaster For Alaska Health Care 
  • Anchorage Daily News: Opinion: Medicaid Isn’t Just For ‘Them.’ It’s A Lifeline For All Of Us. 

ARIZONA

  • ABC 15: Local Medicaid Recipient Reacts To Potential Cuts From Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill
  • Arizona Daily Star: Local Opinion: Medicaid Saved My Mother’s Life
  • Tucson Sentinel: GOP Leaders In U.S. Senate Struggle To Lessen Pain Of Medicaid Cuts For Rural Hospitals 
  • Arizona Copper Courier: Arizona Advocates Warn Against Republican Cuts To Kids’ Healthcare, Food Programs

KENTUCKY

MAINE

  • Newsweek: Susan Collins Gets Warning From Maine Voters – Poll
  • Maine Morning Star: Calling Medicaid A ‘Lifeline’ For Mainers, Health Advocates Urge Collins To Oppose GOP Budget Bill  
  • Maine Public: Health Care Advocates Say Medicaid Cuts Will Have Severe Impacts In Maine 
  • Fox23Maine / KIMA: State Rep. Urges Sen. Collins to Vote Against ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ 
  • Maine Morning Star: Gov. Mills Warns Maine Cannot Absorb Cuts In Republicans’ ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
  • News Center Maine: Sen. Susan Collins Votes To Move Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Forward 
  • WGME: Maine Restauranters Speak Out Against GOP’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ 
  • Bangor Daily News: Opinion: Rural Maine Can’t Afford Hospital Losses That Republican Reconciliation Bill Would Bring
  • Maine Public: Health Care Advocates Say Changes To ACA Marketplace Plans Threaten Maine’s Healthcare System
  • Portland Press Herald: Maine’s Hospitals Say They’re Under Threat By Proposed Medicaid Cuts

WEST VIRGINIA

  • Public News Service: Report: WV Small Business Labor Force At Risk From Medicaid Cuts 
  • WVVA: Two Local Hospitals Could Close Under ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, Study Says
ashoup
In News

HEADLINES: Protect Our Care, Advocates Sound the Alarm In Key Senate States As Their Senators Consider Big, Ugly Bill

Over the past week, health care advocates and everyday Americans in Alaska, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, and West Virginia have been sounding the alarm over the tax bill their Republican Senators are racing to pass. The bill would kick millions off their health care by making the largest cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in history, all so Trump and the GOP can give tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthy. Millions of children and people with disabilities would lose coverage, seniors would be forced to leave their nursing homes, and people with cancer or serious medical conditions would lose lifesaving care. In rural states like these, Republican cuts would force hospitals to shut down, costing jobs and crippling local economies. Poll after poll shows that Americans across the political spectrum overwhelmingly disapprove of this bill. Now it’s on GOP Senators like Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, and Josh Hawley to listen to the outcry from their constituents, and reject this devastating bill.

ALASKA

  • Anchorage Daily News: Opinion from State Representative Mina: Alaskans Will Lose Under Proposed SNAP and Medicaid Cuts
  • Anchorage Daily News: Opinion: As An Anchorage Pediatrician, I See Every Day How the Proposed Medicaid Cuts Would Hurt Alaska Kids 
  • KBBI Homer: Homer Residents Protest Proposed Medicaid Cuts
  • KHNS Radio: Klukwan Teen Says Medicaid Gives Him the Resources to Live His Life
  • Anchorage Daily News: We’re Alaska Health Care Providers. Defunding Planned Parenthood Through Medicaid Cuts Will Harm Our Patients And Our Clinics.
  • Wasilla Frontiersman: Caregivers, Families Rally Against Proposed Medicaid Cuts In Wasilla

MAINE

  • Portland Press Herald: Maine’s Hospitals Say They’re Under Threat by Proposed Medicaid Cuts 
  • Bangor Daily News: Opinion: Rural Maine Can’t Afford Hospital Losses That Republican Reconciliation Bill Would Bring (paywalled, the full text is viewable here)

MISSOURI

  • KRCG: Missouri Officials Sound the Alarm on Medicaid Cuts 
  • St. Louis Dispatch: Missouri Health Providers And Advocates Raise Alarms Ahead Of Vote On ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill
  • Missouri Independent: Federal Spending Bill Could Be ‘Devastating’ For Missouri Medicaid Patients, Rural Hospitals
  • Krcg (CBS Columbia): Missouri Rural Areas May Experience Hospital Closures, Economic Impacts From Medicaid Cuts
  • Maryville Forum: Federal Spending Bill Could Be ‘Devastating’ For Missouri Medicaid Patients, Rural Hospitals
  • Columbia Missourian: Proposed Cuts Could Impact Access To Medicaid And Rural Hospitals
  • Ktvo (CBS Kirksville): Missouri Rural Areas May Experience Hospital Closures, Economic Impacts From Medicaid Cuts

NORTH CAROLINA 

  • NC Newsline: NC Democratic Lawmakers Decry Impact Of GOP Mega-Bill On Rural Health Care
  • WRAZ: Congressman Davis And Senator Murdock To Discuss Possible Cuts To Medicaid 
  • WNCT: Congressman Davis Partners With Protect Our Care 
  • Wilson Times: Our Communities, Hospitals Can’t Afford To Lose Medicaid

WEST VIRGINIA

  • WTAP: What Could The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Mean For West Virginians? 
  • Herald-Dispatch: Vigil Highlights Locals Concerns On Cuts To Medicaid
  • WV Metro News: Hospital Reps: Rural Healthcare Providers Would Be At Risk Under ‘Big, Beautiful’ Provisions
  • Charleston Gazette-Mail: Opinion from Brian McNicoll: Trump Must Find Other Places To Cut
  • The Intermountain: Medicaid, SNAP A Focus Of Proposed Bill 
  • WV Watch: Medicaid Matters For Oral Health 
  • Gazette-Mail: 6 Arrested During Sit-In At Capito’s Office, Charleston, WV
  • WV Watch: Six Arrested While Protesting Cuts To Medicaid, SNAP Outside Capito’s Charleston Office
  • WCHS-TV: Six Charged With Trespassing While Protesting At Sen. Capito’s Charleston Office
  • WV Watch: “Big, Beautiful Bill” Contains Severe Cuts To Programs For West Virginians With Disabilities
  • WTRF: West Virginia Organizations Push Back Against Senate Plan To Cut Medicaid And SNAP
  • WV Metronews: As ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Hits Home Stretch, Community Groups Urge Senators To Say ‘No’
  • WVVA-TV: As Coal Miners Face Layoffs, Federal Cuts To Public Assistance Also Loom
  • WV News: Gop Medicaid Cuts Threaten To Devastate Key Lifeline In West Virginia
  • 12WBOY: Mountaineer Food Bank Says SNAP Changes Means 9.5 Billion Fewer Meals
  • Logan Banner: Proposed Medicaid Cuts Would Be Detrimental, Health Leader Says; 7 Rural WV Hospitals Would Close
  • Appalachian Voices: Groups Urge Sens. Capito, Justice To Protect West Virginia
ashoup
In Roundup, News

CRASH AND BURN: Opposition to Trump’s Big Ugly Bill Is Soaring the More People Learn About It

Americans Overwhelmingly Reject Trump’s Tax Scam As Senate Republicans Push Even Deeper Health Care Cuts

Yesterday, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee released the full text of their version of Trump’s tax scam, making the largest cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in history even larger to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. An estimated 16 million Americans would lose life-saving coverage under the House version, including seniors, children, veterans, people with disabilities, workers who don’t get insurance through their jobs, and people who take care of their children or elderly parents – but Senate Republicans are pushing deeper cuts, even as polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Republicans’ massive health care cuts. Here’s the latest polling: 

KFF: Poll: Public Views “Big Beautiful Bill” Unfavorably by Nearly a 2-1 Margin.

  • Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the public holds unfavorable views of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ passed last month by the House, nearly twice the share who view the bill favorably (35%), a new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds… When people hear facts and arguments about the bill’s impact on health care, support shrinks and opposition grows, including among MAGA supporters. For example, after being told that the bill would decrease funding for local hospitals, the share with favorable views falls to 21% and unfavorable views rise to 79%. Similarly, after being told that the bill would increase the number of people without health insurance by about 10 million, support falls to 25% and opposition rises to 74%. Among MAGA supporters, support drops by more than 20 percentage points after hearing each of the two arguments, resulting in less than half in the group viewing the law favorably.”
  • “As Congress debates significant reductions in federal spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the poll finds the public views the two programs more favorably than ever before. Regarding Medicaid, 83% of the public now views the Medicaid program favorably, including large majorities of Democrats (93%), independents (83%), and Republicans (74%). That’s up from 77% in January, with the biggest jump occurring among Republicans. Unfavorable views of the program now stand at 17%, down from 23% in January. Similarly, two-thirds (66%) of the public now have favorable views of the ACA, the highest level of support recorded in KFF polls since the law’s enactment in 2010. Favorable views of the ACA have been on the rise since 2017 during an unsuccessful attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the law during President Trump’s first term.”

Navigator: Majorities Oppose Republicans in Congress’ Proposed Budget Plan.

  • “A majority of Americans (51 percent) now oppose the Republican budget plan following its passage in the House. Opposition outweighs support by 15 points, with just 36 percent supporting the GOP budget bill. Opposition to the bill has increased six points since May and has grown the most among independents.”
  • “Learning that additional tax cuts would benefit those who are already rich leads 55 percent of independents and a 43 percent plurality of non-MAGA Republicans to oppose the budget plan… Giving new tax breaks to the rich and big corporations is a dealbreaker for Americans across partisanship: 87 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of independents, and 51 percent of Republicans say they could not support an elected official who voted to give new tax breaks to the wealthy.”

Washington Post: GOP budget bill faces nearly 2-to-1 opposition with many unaware: Poll.

  • “…42 percent of Americans oppose the budget bill “changing tax, spending and Medicaid policies” that narrowly passed in May by the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, compared with 23 percent of Americans who support the bill…”
  • “…44 percent say it’s unacceptable for about 8 million people to lose health insurance as a result of these [work] requirements as well as more frequent eligibility verification and state restrictions, while 32 percent say this is acceptable. When new requirements are not specified, the poll finds 63 percent saying it’s unacceptable for 8 million people to lose Medicaid health insurance.”

AP-NORC: Few want spending reductions on federal benefit programs.

  • “A majority of adults think the federal government is already under-spending on key safety net programs including Medicare and Social Security. They also feel the country is not investing enough in education. Roughly half the public feel spending is too low for Medicaid and food and nutrition programs like SNAP.”
  • “More Republicans say the government is spending too little on Social Security and Medicare than say it’s spending too much.”

HEADLINES

USA Today: Bad news for Trump’s tax bill: Poll finds majority of Americans oppose it.

  • “…64 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of the proposed bill, which passed the House in May and is currently being tweaked in the Senate… Like the KFF poll, the Post found support and opposition for the bill fell along party lines: 49% of Republicans supported the bill, while just 17% of independents and 6% of Democrats did.”

KFF Health News: ‘MAGA’ Backers Like Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ — Until They Learn of Health Consequences.

  • “The poll finds two-thirds of the public — including the vast majority of Republicans (88%) and MAGA supporters (93%) and half (51%) of Democrats — initially support requiring nearly all adults on Medicaid to prove they are working or looking for work, in school, or doing community service, with exceptions such as for caregivers and people with disabilities. However, attitudes toward this provision shifted dramatically when respondents were presented with more information. For example, when told most adults with Medicaid are already working or unable to work, and that those individuals could lose coverage due to the challenge of documenting it, about half of supporters changed their view, resulting in nearly two-thirds of adults opposing Medicaid work requirements and about a third supporting them.”

NBC News: Poll: Americans disapprove of Trump’s performance as Republicans manage splits over spending plans.

  • “A slight majority of Americans (51%) said maintaining current spending levels on programs like Medicaid is the most important matter as Congress considers Trump-backed budget legislation this year… Democrats surveyed in the poll overwhelmingly said their priority is maintaining current spending levels on programs like Medicaid (79%), as do a slight majority of independents (53%).”

ABC News: AP-NORC poll: Many say Medicaid, food stamps underfunded amid GOP cuts push.

  • “Americans broadly support increasing or maintaining existing levels of funding for popular safety net programs, including Social Security and Medicare, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research… About half of U.S. adults say “too little” funding goes to Medicaid, which is a government health care coverage program for low-income people and people with certain disabilities… About 6 in 10 Americans say there is not enough government money going toward Social Security, Medicare or education broadly.”

NPR: Medicaid keeps getting more popular as Republicans aim to cut it by $800 billion.

  • “Three in 4 Republicans now say they view Medicaid favorably. That popularity boost comes as many more people are hearing about Republican cuts to Medicaid in the news… That budget bill is much less popular than Medicaid, the KFF poll found. Overall, 2 in 3 Americans have unfavorable views of the bill. Those who support President Trump do like the bill, but they also like Medicaid, Kirzinger says.”
  • “‘If you tell people that it would decrease funding for local hospitals, unfavorability increases to nearly 8 in 10. If you tell people it would increase the uninsured [population] by about 10 million people, unfavorability increases to 3 in 4.’ Republican lawmakers have downplayed the projected financial impact to rural hospitals and the number of people who could become uninsured, aiming to frame the proposed changes as targeting those who don’t deserve coverage.”
ashoup
In News, Roundup

HEADLINES: Pressure On Senate Republicans Heats Up As Coverage On Deadly Impacts of GOP Tax Bill Continues

As Republicans advance their tax scam through the Senate, recent headlines reveal growing concern over how the bill would devastate working families and the American health care system in order to fund massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. The Republican bill includes the largest cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in our nation’s history and would rip health care coverage away from 16 million Americans. Seniors would be forced out of nursing homes, rural economies and households would suffer while hospitals shut down, and people battling cancer and serious illness would lose lifesaving care. Meanwhile, Republican leaders continue to push outright lies, or tell people who rely on Medicaid to “prove that [they] matter,” while dismissing constituents’ worries with callous indifference. At a time when too many are struggling to make ends meet, Senate Republicans must stand up and reject cuts that benefit billionaires on the backs of everyday Americans.

Forbes: AMA: Doctors And Patients Hurt By Republican ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ 

  • “The American Medical Association says legislation wending its way through the Republican-controlled Congress would ‘take us backward’ as a country by cutting health benefits for low-income Americans.”

The Washington Post: Opinion: The GOP Bill Cutting Medicaid Could Mean More Than 100,000 Deaths 

  • “To take the most conservative of these three research teams’ work suggests this uptick in the uninsured population will translate to about 100,000 more avoidable deaths over the next decade. (That number is well over 140,000 if we include the impact of the expiring credits.)”

The Hill: What’s A Medicaid Cut? Senate GOP Tiptoes Around $800B Question

  • “‘The people losing coverage aren’t people who aren’t working … but they’re actually people who should satisfy the work reporting or should qualify for an exemption, but they can’t navigate the complex systems for either reporting one’s hours for work or other activities,’ said Edwin Park, a research professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. The legislation includes some exemptions, like for caregiving, but it doesn’t specify what would qualify or how beneficiaries would prove they qualify.”

Newsweek: Nurses Were Covid Heroes. Now They’re Being Squeezed By Medicaid Cuts

  • “Patients can’t afford care, so they put it off, and they come into hospitals much sicker than they ever were. The looming Medicaid cuts will only make this worse. NYSNA nurses are trying to hold hospitals accountable and also do as much as possible on the policy front to expand access to care.”

Huffington Post: 5 Absurd Ways Republicans Are Defending Kicking People Off Medicaid 

  • Experts don’t matter. Prove you are worthy of health care. We’re all going to die anyway. Somehow, these are actual arguments GOP lawmakers and officials have been making as they try to gloss over the pain their bill would impose on poor people and families while handing big tax breaks to mostly rich people.

The Washington Post: Republicans Worry Medicaid Cuts Would Hurt Their Communities, Poll Finds 

  • “About 3 in 4 GOP Medicaid recipients were worried federal cuts to the program would hurt their ability to receive and pay for health care for themselves and their families, the poll found. Those concerns are not limited to people enrolled in the program. Nearly a third of all Republicans and 26 percent of MAGA Republicans had the same worries about their own access to health care if Medicaid is cut, the survey showed.”

Newsweek: Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Suffers Blow 

  • “A new poll found that most people believe that President Donald Trump’s signature spending bill will primarily benefit wealthy individuals while harming middle-class and low-income individuals…60 percent of respondents believe the bill will benefit wealthy individuals, and 7 percent think it will hurt them.

The Dallas Morning News: The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Contains Some Ugly Medicaid Cuts 

  • “The bill will cut some $716 billion from Medicaid over 10 years (according to the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of an earlier, less punitive version), primarily by pushing an estimated 8 million people off of the program entirely. Several million more are projected to lose insurance due to cuts to the Affordable Care Act. Studies of Medicaid recipients, however, don’t find anywhere near 8 million people receiving benefits without working or qualifying for a legitimate exemption. The spending cuts, and losses in coverage, depend on raising the “time tax” paid by Medicaid recipients to the point where many will lose coverage they would normally qualify for.”

The New York Times: Opinion: When Arkansas Embraced Medicaid Work Requirements, Chaos Ensued 

  • “We saw many working people face similar challenges. Our clients ran the gamut of low-wage work: fast food workers, restaurant dishwashers and servers, construction workers, janitors, landscapers, motel cleaners, gas station clerks and nursing assistants. Many had disabilities, and their ability to continue working depended on getting treatment to manage chronic pain, asthma, injuries, cancer and mental health conditions. Some lost coverage simply because they couldn’t navigate the policy’s complicated requirements and labyrinthine reporting process. Others lost insurance because of the instability of low-wage work: Bosses cut their hours or laid them off without warning, limited public transit narrowed their options or they lived in struggling rural areas where jobs were hard to come by. When the state cut them off, their health worsened and many lost jobs, as well as the ability to work new ones.”

Des Moines Register: Opinion: I Lived The Gift Of Medicaid. It Made My Daughter’s 14 Months Possible. 

  • “The people most affected by these cuts will be single mothers doing their very best to raise their children. I know these families. They come to church for preschool and childcare before visiting the food pantry down the street. Our most vulnerable are worthy of care and Medicaid. They are not a bottom line on a budget spreadsheet aimed at funding tax breaks for the wealthy.”

MSNBC: Trump’s Interest In Medicare Cuts Is A Warning About Social Security Too 

  • “Not satisfied with massive reductions to Medicaid, GOP lawmakers — with the president’s support — now have Medicare in their sights, according to NBC News. That would mean cuts to two of the U.S. government’s three big entitlement programs, and Republicans’ talking points could just as easily be turned against the third entitlement: Social Security.”

The Guardian: Opinion: Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill Is Built On Falsehoods About Low-Income Families 

  • “Here’s the reality check: a majority of those receiving this aid who can work are already working. More than 70% of working-age people who receive nutrition benefits or Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income children and adults that covers one in five Americans, are already working, according to the Government Accountability Office. Those who aren’t working, research shows, are mostly ill, disabled, caring for a family member, or in school.”

Daily Kos: Americans See Big Pain In Trump’s ‘Beautiful Bill’ 

  • “A new YouGov poll for CBS News finds that a plurality of Americans (47%) think the legislation, if enacted, will hurt middle-class people, and a majority (54%) thinks it will hurt poor people. Additionally, a plurality of 43% say the bill will hurt them and their family.”
ashoup
In Fact Sheet, Research

FACT SHEET: 16 Million Americans Will Lose Their Health Care Under the GOP Tax Scam

The Republican Big, Terrible Bill Is Getting Worse By the Day

Republicans have supercharged their plan to kick millions of working families off health care in order to hand out tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. Thanks to their last-minute changes, an additional 2 million Americans will lose their health coverage in order to pay for a bill that now gives even more massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations and adds trillions to the federal deficit on the backs of hard-working families. The Congressional Budget Office is now estimating that the Republicans will cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would throw 16 million Americans off their coverage, and increase the uninsured rate by 50 percent. Trump’s big, ugly bill encompasses the largest cuts to Medicaid and the ACA in history; the GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans. This level of estimated coverage loss hasn’t been seen since the 2017 ACA repeal effort, and it threatens the livelihoods of seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. It’s time for Republicans in the Senate to prove where they stand: with billionaires or with everyday Americans.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Republican reconciliation package:

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and large corporations.
  • Cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
  • Hikes premiums for over 24 million Americans, including rural Americans, small business owners, and middle-class families.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, forcing more Americans to travel further for maternity care and emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.

The Policies Underlying The Biggest Loss of Health Care in American History: The following policies underlie the biggest loss of health care in American history and will kick millions off their coverage, drive premiums through the roof, increase costs for families struggling to get by, raise drug prices for seniors, and make it harder for families to get covered and stay covered.

  1. Executes The Largest Cuts To Medicaid In History. Republicans are taking away Medicaid so they can give away tax breaks to billionaires, regardless of what they call it. Whether they do it through devastating cuts to federal funding or the addition of burdensome bureaucratic reporting measures known as work requirements, they will have the same result: taking away Medicaid from people who are counting on it. 
    • Includes billions in cuts to Medicaid Expansion funding to over a dozen states. Republicans are punishing states with cuts to funding for Medicaid expansion. In doing so, Republicans are putting the health care of nearly 12 million Americans across 14 states at risk in the crosshairs of the Republican war on immigrants, including children. States like Illinois stand to lose the most from this policy, where nearly 1 million Illinoisans rely on Medicaid expansion for health care, and the state is required to repeal the program altogether without full federal funding. The reduction in Medicaid expansion funding may also force over 60 rural hospitals across the states affected to close, including in Minnesota, Vermont, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, California, and New York.
    • Takes away critical financial incentives for states to expand Medicaid, leaving millions of low-income families across the country with nowhere to turn for health care. 10 states have yet to fully expand Medicaid: Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Yet, at a time when people are struggling to afford the cost of living and facing economic uncertainty, Republicans are ripping away the possibility of health coverage from millions in these states. States without Medicaid expansion require that some families earn as little as $4,130 a year in order to qualify for Medicaid. 
    • Limits the ways states fund Medicaid, including provider taxes and state directed payments, which will shutter struggling hospitals and make it nearly impossible for states to manage the burden of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history without kicking millions off their coverage and taking away benefits.
  2. Hikes Premiums For Over 24 Million Americans. Republicans are ending tax credits for working families, raising costs, and ripping away health care from millions of Americans. If Republicans take away these tax credits, they’ll be taking away health care. Costs will skyrocket by an average of $2,400 for millions of families, and 5 million people will lose their health care altogether. Republicans are going to raise costs on middle-class families while they hand out tax breaks to the very rich and biggest corporations. Families will pay up to 90 percent more for their health care, while billionaires and CEOs will get another huge tax break. 
  3. Adds Wasteful Paperwork Requirements Designed To Throw Millions of Eligible Americans Off Their Health Care To Pay For Tax Breaks For The Wealthy And Corporations. Work requirements are nothing more than purposely burdensome paperwork designed to kick nearly 5 million people off the rolls to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. Taking away Medicaid doesn’t help people find jobs. In fact, Medicaid helps people stay employed, and making unemployed people sicker makes it more difficult for them to find work, especially in this tough economy. A government bureaucrat shouldn’t get to decide if someone is “too able-bodied” for health care. People with conditions like severe pain, fatigue, or mental illness may not qualify as “disabled enough” to be exempted from work requirements. Work reporting requirements have been a colossal waste of money in every state that has implemented them and have been shown to increase paperwork but not job growth.
  4. Increases Health Care Costs For Families Struggling To Get By. Republicans are raising health care costs by demanding $8 billion in new copayments from millions of hardworking families who rely on ACA Medicaid expansion, families who likely already struggle to make ends meet. In addition, the GOP proposal includes a formula change that would increase premiums by an additional $313 a year for the typical family purchasing insurance on their own. It would also allow insurance companies to impose an additional $900 in deductibles and other cost-sharing on families with any private health insurance, including people with employer-based insurance. The proposal also removes regulations requiring private insurers to offer high-quality coverage by allowing them to cover as little as 66% of costs while retaining “Silver” plan status. With this bill, Republicans will increase out-of-pocket costs for middle- and low-income families, while making it easier for insurance companies to rip off Americans.
  5. Drives Up Prescription Drug Costs And Pads Big Pharma’s Profits. Republicans are slipping a huge giveaway to Big Pharma into a reconciliation package already loaded with tax breaks for CEOs and greedy corporations like drug companies, meaning Big Pharma’s multimillion-dollar investments at Mar-a-Lago are paying off big time. Their scheme to exempt drugs that treat rare diseases from negotiation creates a major loophole for drug companies to exploit to continue padding their profits and price-gouging the seniors who rely on these drugs.
  6. Makes It Harder For Families To Get Covered And Stay Covered. Republicans are codifying key parts of the 2025 Marketplace Sabotage rule proposed by CMS in March into law. This rule is estimated to kick 2 million people off their Marketplace coverage, increase premiums for millions of people, and make enrolling in a plan more difficult. These changes will make it harder for families to enroll in ACA plans by shortening the enrollment period and taking away low-income families’ ability to sign up for coverage outside of the six-week enrollment period. These policies establish more paperwork burdens for enrolling and proving eligibility for tax credits and targets vulnerable communities that have historically faced barriers to accessing health care.
ashoup
In Commentary, News

BY THE NUMBERS: How 16 Million Will Lose Coverage From the GOP Tax Scam

Trump and Republicans want you to believe that they aren’t taking away your health care, but the numbers don’t lie. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released new analysis confirming the GOP’s deeply unpopular plan will rip health care away from 16 million Americans in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. 

Trump’s big, ugly bill cuts nearly a trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Combined with taking away the ACA tax credits, the GOP plan will destroy our health care system and cause devastation to millions of Americans. This level of coverage loss hasn’t been seen since the 2017 ACA repeal effort, threatening the livelihood of millions, including seniors, children, people with disabilities, cancer patients, small business owners, and more. It’s a scam to give massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations on the backs of hard-working families. It’s time for Republicans in the Senate to prove where they stand: with billionaires or with everyday Americans.

Here’s exactly how Republicans are sabotaging health care:

  • Rips health care away from 16 million Americans, including seniors, children, veterans, and people with disabilities, to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk and corporations such as Big Pharma.
  • Cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA to pay for handouts to the wealthiest Americans.
  • Hikes premiums for over 24 million Americans including rural Americans, small business owners, and middle-class families.
  • Guts over $150 billion in critical funding for hospitals, which will shutter facilities, causing more Americans to live in maternity care deserts, travel further to emergency rooms, and face longer wait times. 
  • Generates over $600 billion in funding for tax breaks for the rich by making it harder than ever for working families to get the health care they need.
  • Demands $8.2 billion in new health care payments from families who are already struggling.
  • Contains a $5 billion giveaway to drug companies that will drive up the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and taxpayers.
ashoup
In News, Roundup

COVERAGE: Republican Tax Scam Cuts Over A Trillion From American Health Care, 16 Million Will Lose Coverage

Yesterday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released updated analysis on Republicans’ tax bill and confirmed 16 million Americans will be kicked off their health care, including kids, people with disabilities, seniors, and working families. This bill slashes over $1 trillion in American health care – the largest health care cut in American history – in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Despite their empty promises to protect health care or lower prices, Donald Trump and Republicans are going to force seniors out of nursing homes, shutter rural hospitals, cause health care costs to skyrocket, and rip life-saving coverage away from millions.

Bloomberg: Health Coverage for 16 Million Said at Risk With GOP Plan.

  • “The number of people in the US without health insurance is poised to increase by 16 million by 2034 under Republican plans for spending cuts, the Congressional Budget Office estimated… The reconciliation bill alone—which the GOP plans to pass using a budget mechanism without needing Democrats’ support—would lead to around 11 million more people without insurance. CBO estimates that proposed Medicaid work requirements for adults aged 19 to 64 without dependents would increase the number of uninsured by 4.8 million by 2034.”

ABC News: “The CBO Projects Overall a Total of 16 Million People Could Potentially Go Uninsured Over the Next Decade.”

  • “The bill narrowly passed the House in May, but now some GOP members are signaling regret on their stamp of approval… The president has lashed out at GOP senators who are threatening to complicate its path forward, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Paul, who is specifically taking issue with the deficit, told ABC News following Trump’s attacks that he’s been “consistent” about his view from the start. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, has been critical of the bill the House passed to the Senate because it adds to the deficit.”
  • “‘The more you look at the bill, the worse it gets,’ [Senator Chuck] Schumer said. He slammed the impact the changes to Medicaid are projected to have on people’s health insurance as well as on rural hospitals and nursing homes. ‘People will fall through the cracks and get phased out of coverage in the coming years. Death by 1,000 paper cuts. That’s the intention of the Republican bill,’ he said.”

Modern Healthcare: “The Combined Effects of Those Policies and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Would Result in 16 Million More Uninsured People.”

  • “The Republican tax-and-spending-cuts legislation speeding through Congress would take more than $1 trillion out of the healthcare system over a decade, according to an analysis the Congressional Budget Office published Wednesday… Medicaid would be subject to the lion’s share of the cuts and see its federal budget diminish by $864 billion. The work requirement provisions alone would reduce spending by $344 billion… The CBO projects that the Medicaid cuts and other policies would lead to 10.9 million people becoming uninsured, including 7.8 million who would lose Medicaid benefits.”

Stat News: “16 Million People Could Become Uninsured Over a Decade.”

  • “Overall, the bill increases the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over a decade, thanks to its extension of Trump’s tax cuts and the enactment of new ones. Extending lower tax rates alone costs $2.2 trillion over a decade, for example. The bill includes cuts to federal spending on health coverage of more than $1 trillion.”
  • “About 7.8 million people would lose Medicaid coverage, while much of the rest of the losses would stem from the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. Among those losing coverage would be 1.4 million immigrants and others who don’t have, or can’t prove, a legal status that would give them access to insurance… The CBO report doesn’t account for another looming change to health care: enhanced premium tax credits that help people buy ACA coverage are set to expire at the end of the year. The bill does not renew them. The Trump administration has separately estimated that 4.4 million would lose coverage without the tax credits.”

Washington Examiner: “This Would Be the Biggest Rollback in Federal Support for Health Care Ever.”

  • “Democrats and a handful of Republicans have pushed back on the bill’s healthcare provisions, particularly the institution of work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients. Changes to Medicaid and Obamacare in the Energy and Commerce Committee portion of the bill would result in 9.1 million uninsured people, while the Ways and Means provisions would result in 2.3 million newly uninsured people by 2034. The overlap between the programs reduces the uninsured rate by half a million, for a grand total of 10.9 million uninsured people by 2034.”

Splinter: Trump and the GOP’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Fails Its Final CBO Score.

  • “Digging into the human costs reveals how it is even more heinous, as the CBO says it would increase the uninsured population by 10.9 million people over the next ten years. Republicans are lying about how this will throw people off Medicaid by saying that undocumented immigrants are receiving benefits when we know that is not true. This bill is an explicit attempt to take Medicaid away from people in order to partially pay for tax cuts for billionaires that will still blow out the deficit and raise borrowing costs for everyone. In true Republican fashion, many of these empty suits are now lamenting their vote in favor of this calamitous bill they clearly did not read.”
  • “The Yale School of Public Health sent a letter to Democrats warning that this bill could kill 51,000 Americans each year… 15 million people would lose health care coverage because of this GOP bill, and there is enough evidence before you get to Republican Senator Joni Ernst’s gleeful reaction to people dying to suggest that Republicans are happy to accept killing tens of thousands of people in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America. This is their agenda.”

Economic Policy Institute: “[Republicans] Chose to Slash Programs Helping Some of the Most Vulnerable Families.”

  • “This direct transfer of income from vulnerable families to the richest can be summarized in a striking symmetry: If the bill becomes law, the annual cuts to Medicaid would average over $70 billion in coming years—the same amount millionaires and billionaires would gain in tax cuts each year.”
  • “These health care spending cuts would lead directly to millions of people losing health insurance… the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated coverage losses of at least 15 million… a disproportionate share of the House bill’s Medicaid cuts would almost surely fall exactly on these weaker local economies. We estimate that roughly 27 million workers are in these weaker local economies, and that Medicaid cuts could depress local spending enough to force the loss of 850,000 jobs.”

Nasdaq: “Health Insurance Coverage for Millions of Americans Hangs in the Balance.”

  • “Under the deal passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month, policy analysts are estimating between 10.9 million and 15 million people would lose access to their health insurance plans over the course of the budget window, which extends to 2034… Several million more are also expected to lose their health insurance coverage through changes to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, combined with sunsetting provisions that the GOP megabill does not extend.”

The Hill: “House Republicans Rushed to Vote on This Bill Without an Accounting From CBO on the Millions of People Who Will Lose Their Health Care.”

  • “Nearly 11 million people would lose health insurance under the House Republican tax bill, mostly due to cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO’s latest report estimates that 10.9 million people would be uninsured over the next decade if the spending package, which includes much of President Trump’s legislative agenda, were enacted.”
  • “Republicans are likely to downplay the significance of the analysis… Some GOP senators have expressed concerns about some of the Medicaid provisions and say they won’t support the bill without changes.”

CBS News: “Federal Spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act Would Be Reduced by $902 Billion Over a Decade.”

  • “House Republicans are aiming to cut at least $1.5 trillion in spending to offset trillions in tax cuts, while also raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. The CBO projection puts the spending cuts at about $1.2 trillion over the next decade, with the tax cuts totaling just under $3.7 trillion. The national debt currently stands at roughly $36 trillion, according to the Treasury Department…  Though Republicans vowed to protect Medicaid benefits and have framed cuts to the program as trimming ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ the analysis found that the portion of the bill dealing with Medicaid would mean 7.8 million fewer people being enrolled in the safety net program.”

The Wall Street Journal: “Most People, Republicans and Democrats Alike, Want Medicaid Funding to Stay the Same or Increase.”

  • “The 10.9 million figure is an increase from an earlier CBO estimate Republicans released last month. That earlier number pegged the newly uninsured at 7.6 million. The GOP plan thins the rolls by adding more eligibility checks and work requirements for Medicaid recipients. It also makes it more difficult to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans… Cutting Medicaid is unpopular. A March KFF poll found that most people, Republicans and Democrats alike, want Medicaid funding to stay the same or increase”
ashoup
In News, Press Call

PRESS CALL: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden to Join Protect Our Care to Urge The Senate to Reject the GOP Tax Scam and Protect Health Care for the American People

***MEDIA ADVISORY FOR MONDAY JUNE 2ND AT 3 PM ET***

It’s Up to Senate Republicans to Put a Stop to Unprecedented Cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act 

Washington, D.C. — On Monday, June 2nd at 3 PM ET, U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) will join Protect Our Care and former Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai to call on Republicans in the Senate to put people over politics and reject the House spending bill. The bill includes the largest Medicaid cuts in history, guts key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and eliminates premium tax credits. The call comes after Joni Ernst (R-IA) brazenly dismissed concerns about the devastating cuts to health care, stating “we all are going to die.”

As the largest health care provider in the country, Medicaid provides health care to more than 70 million Americans. According to analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, between the drastic cuts to Medicaid and the harmful ACA marketplace cuts in this bill, more than 13 million Americans will lose health care coverage and millions more will see their health care costs soar. Not only will hardworking families lose access to care, rural hospitals will shut down, seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction will lose lifesaving care. Read more about the damage these unprecedented health care cuts will cause here.

PRESS CALL:

WHO:
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Daniel Tsai, Former Medicaid Director for the Biden-Harris administration
Leslie Dach, Chair, Protect Our Care

WHAT: Virtual Press Conference

WHERE: Register for the Event Here.

WHEN: Monday, June 2nd at 3 PM ET

protectourcare
In News

Anti-Health Care Nominee Chad Readler Is Voted Out Of Committee By Senate Republicans 


Senate Republicans Once Again Turn Their Backs On People With Pre-existing Conditions With Anti-Health Care Vote

Washington DC — Today, on a party-line vote, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to allow Chad Readler’s nomination to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to proceed to the full Senate for debate and a vote. Readler led the effort in the Trump Justice Department to eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions by filing a brief on behalf of the Trump administration in Texas v. United States arguing in favor of striking down the Affordable Care Act’s provisions to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage, or charging more because of a pre-existing condition. In December 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in favor of the Republican plaintiffs and said the entire ACA should be struck down. Now, Mitch McConnell is breaking with longstanding Senate norms to jam through this nomination by ignoring the objections of Readler’s home state senator, Sherrod Brown. Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care, issued the following statement:

“A vote for Chad Readler is a vote for full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. His confirmation vote is a litmus test for Republican’s claims to protect people pre-existing conditions and today they failed that test. Readler wants to go back to the days where insurance companies could deny, drop or charge more for coverage and end protections for millions of people with pre-existing conditions. The stakes couldn’t be clearer, the full Senate must stand up for people with pre-existing conditions and block Chad Readler from a lifetime appointment to the court.”

Background:

As Acting Assistant Attorney General, Chad Readler filed a brief on behalf of the Trump administration in Texas v. United States arguing that protections for people with pre-existing conditions under the Affordable Care Act should be struck down. This put the full weight of the Department of Justice behind the Republican war on health care to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA).  In December, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Republican plaintiffs, striking down the entire ACA. If this ruling is allowed to stand:

  • Marketplace tax credits and coverage for 10 million people: GONE.
  • Medicaid expansion currently covering 15 million people: GONE.
  • Protections for more than 130 million people with pre-existing conditions when they buy coverage on their own: GONE.
  • Allowing children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26: GONE.
  • Free annual wellness exams: GONE.
  • Ban on annual and lifetime limits: GONE.
  • Ban on insurance discrimination against women: GONE.
  • Contraception with no out-of-pocket costs: GONE.
  • Limit on out-of-pocket costs: GONE.
  • Requirement that insurance companies cover essential benefits like prescription drugs, maternity care, and hospitalization: GONE.
  • Improvements to Medicare, including reduced costs for prescription drugs: GONE.
  • Closed Medicare prescription drug donut hole: GONE.
  • Rules to hold insurance companies accountable: GONE.
  • Small business tax credits: GONE.
Close Menu