Republicans are trying to revive a health care bill that would be a disaster for seniors, children, and millions of hard-working American families. What’s worse — the latest version of TrumpCare would take away protections from millions across the country with pre-existing conditions.
Here is what a few health care experts and stakeholders have to say about the new TrumpCare bill:
Experts:
Matthew Fiedler, Brookings Institution: “The amendment could seriously jeopardize both financial security and access to care for people with serious illnesses.” [4/24/17]
Edwin Park, CBPP: “Eliminating Essential Health Benefit requirements means that women would once again have to pay more for plans that included maternity coverage.” [4/20/17]
Harold Pollack, Century Foundation: “Speaker Ryan’s bill allows states to waive ACA protections that now bar insures from charging more to childhood cancer survivors.” [4/27/17]
Andy Slavitt, Bipartisan Policy Center: “There’s one sentence every American needs to know: TrumpCare eliminates pre-existing condition protections.” [4/27/17]
Stakeholders:
AARP: “This harmful legislation still puts an Age Tax on older Americans and puts vulnerable populations at risk through a series of backdoor deals that attempts to shift responsibility to states. Older Americans need affordable health care services and prescriptions. This legislation still goes in the opposite direction, increasing insurance premiums for older Americans and not doing anything to lower drug costs.” [4/27/17]
American Hospital Association: “The latest version of the AHCA continues to put health coverage in jeopardy for many Americans. Our top concern is what this change could mean for older and sicker patients, including those with pre-existing conditions, such as cancer patients and those with chronic conditions.” [4/27/17]
American Medical Association: “Nothing in the MacArthur amendment remedies the shortcomings of the underlying bill.” [4/27/17]
Catholic Hospitals: “It is critically important to look at this bill for what it is. It is not in any way a health care bill. Rather, it is legislation whose aim is to take significant funding allocated by Congress for health care for very low income people and use that money for tax cuts for some of our wealthiest citizens. This is contrary to the spirit of who we are as a nation, a giant step backward that should be resisted.” [4/26/17]
March of Dimes: “The MacArthur amendment will offer states and health plans numerous opportunities to charge people with pre-existing conditions higher rates, design plans that explicitly exclude the services they are most likely to need, and erect barriers to care. For pregnant women, this likely means fewer plans that cover maternity and newborn care, and much higher rates for those that do.” [4/26/17]
