Statement on Senate GOP Health Proposal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2017

CONTACT
Email: [email protected]
Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

NILC Statement on Senate GOP Health Proposal

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans today unveiled their version of a bill to repeal key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill tracks closely with a deeply unpopular proposal that narrowly passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in May, maintaining similar provisions that would result in millions of people who gained coverage through the ACA losing access to affordable health insurance.

Both the House and Senate bills include provisions that restrict some immigrants’ access to health programs, but the Senate bill would go even further. The proposal released today would cut off all access to health insurance for some immigrants, by barring them from the health insurance marketplaces and eliminating their access to the financial assistance that 84 percent of participants on the marketplace rely on.

Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“Despite widespread disapproval for similar Republican proposals, the Senate GOP have doubled down on a shameful plan that would gift the wealthy with tax breaks at the expense of millions of families’ health care. Through this bill, like its House counterpart, the GOP aims to cut off millions of people’s access to affordable care, with many of our most vulnerable populations taking the brunt of this devastating blow. But the authors of this bill have gone even further, taking yet another opportunity to vilify and make life more difficult for immigrants. This includes community members who are in the process of obtaining forms of humanitarian relief that will allow them to work and live here permanently and visa-holders who are survivors of violent crimes.

“Our country needs a health care system that can care for all people in our communities—no matter where they were born or how much money they have. Senators should put the health of all communities above partisan politics and reject this cruel bill.”

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