LOS ANGELES - Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA) calls on Congress to reject the latest health care repeal and replace bill unveiled by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Dean Heller (R-NV) on September 13, 2017.
Rather than seeking a bipartisan approach to stabilize the health insurance marketplaces and improve access to care, the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson ACA Repeal bill (Graham-Cassidy bill) is more harmful and worse than any prior repeal effort and proposes to roll-back many critical provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It would cap and block-grant Medicaid and ACA tax credits and subsidies, repeal the Medicaid expansion, and undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
“Similar to prior Republican attempts to repeal and replace the ACA, this bill is especially mean-spirited and draconian by attempting to take away health coverage for millions and punish those states that covered the most uninsured Americans through explicitly attacking larger states such as California that implemented the ACA and expanded Medicaid and marketplace coverage and shifting dollars to less densely populated states who did not embrace the ACA,” says Doreena Wong, Health Access Project Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles.
The Graham-Cassidy bill would ultimately force billions to many states, such as an estimated $28 billion per year in cuts to California’s health system and budget. It would eventually eliminate all federal funding for the ACA by 2027, slash Medi-Cal funding by $114.6 billion between 2017 and 2020 in California, and put 100% of the financial responsibility for increasing health care costs and public health emergencies on the California and other state budgets.
These devastating cuts would directly impact all Californians, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) who have benefited from the ACA and Medicaid expansion.
The newest version of the Graham-Cassidy bill would place the health coverage of nearly 1.4 million individuals, including 240,000 AANHPIs, who have insurance through the Covered California marketplace and 1.7 million AANHPIs eligible for Medi-cal, including 653,000 AANHPI adults who have gained coverage through the Medicaid Expansion, at risk.
With an impending September 30th Congressional deadline to pass all budget-related bills, Advancing Justice-LA calls on all California Congress members to stand up and oppose the Graham-Cassidy bill. Advancing Justice-LA will continue to keep key Congress members in California, including Congressmembers Rohrabacher, Issa, Valadao, Nunes, LaMalfa, Hunter, Royce, Denham, Calvert, McCarthy, Walters, Cook, Knight, and McClintock accountable for their votes, especially if the Graham-Cassidy proposal passes the Senate and moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for reconciliation.
Advancing Justice-LA also urges friends, family members and other community members in other states to strongly urge their Senators to vote against the Graham-Cassidy bill and stop it in the Senate. Find your Senator through calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Contact:
Randy Bunnao, (213) 241-0227, [email protected]
About Advancing Justice - LA:
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA) is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (NHPI). Through direct services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, leadership development, and capacity building, Advancing Justice-LA focuses on the most vulnerable members of Asian American and NHPI communities while also building a strong voice for civil rights and social justice.
Monday, September 18, 2017
