Senate Health Bill Vote Delay Confirms It Is Unworkable

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2017

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Senate Health Bill Vote Delay Confirms It Is Unworkable

WASHINGTON — Republicans in the U.S. Senate today postponed a vote on their proposed health bill until after the July 4 recess, indicating that at least some senators recognize that the bill introduced last week is not acceptable.

The bill, which is the latest hyperpartisan effort to repeal key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, was drafted in secret to avoid scrutiny. It has been broadly interpreted as a tax break for the rich at the expense of millions of people’s health.

The Senate bill tracks closely with its counterpart in the U.S House of Representatives and would result in 22 million people losing access to health insurance within ten years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That includes 15 million people kicked off insurance rolls by 2018.

Matthew Lopas, a health policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“This Republican health proposal is fundamentally unworkable. No amount of deal-making or strong-arming will fix that. Rather than continue compromising for a ‘meaner’ bill that throws more of our most vulnerable community members under the bus, the Senate should focus on finding ways to improve on the advances made by the Affordable Care Act to expand affordable health care for all.

“Our communities are stronger when everyone has quality, affordable health care, including immigrants and their families. Congress needs to give up efforts to cripple our health care system and instead focus on ensuring that no one is one health care emergency away from bankruptcy.”

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