Higher Costs, Less Care: Why We Should All Stand Against Trumpcare

Senator Brian Schatz joins Senators Cory Booker and Chris Murphy in front of the Congressional Budget Office on June, 22, 2017. They were at the Office in search of the Senate Republican health care bill, which was drafted in secret and had not yet been released. [Photo credit: Senator Schatz’s office]

You would think that, for the past seven years, the only complaint people had about the Affordable Care Act is that it hurts wealthy people. They seem to be the only people who stand to gain with the Republican Senate health care plan — they get a giant tax break.

The rest of America, on the other hand, is in trouble. With Trumpcare, health care will cost more, and 22 million people are going to lose their health care altogether.

To put that in perspective, imagine if everyone lost health care in Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Alaska, West Virginia, Ohio, Idaho, and Wyoming. That’s what Trumpcare does.

It also devastates one of the best health care programs this country has. With this bill, Medicaid is going to lose nearly 800 billion dollars in funding.

So if your only worry is that your investment income gets taxed 3.8 percent every year, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

But if you have a loved one in a nursing home, if you are pregnant or thinking about having a baby, if your kid has a disability that requires costly care, if you work two jobs but your employer doesn’t provide health insurance, then this bill does not take care of you.

Instead of less taxes, you get less health care. And you’re going to pay more for it.

This is what happens when legislators don’t have any committee hearings, or they refuse to meet with patients, doctors, and advocates. The end product is a health care bill that is not actually a health care bill, but a tax cut with a Medicaid cut.

At this point, we are not even debating health care policy.

It’s not a question of, what’s the best way to get people to sign up for insurance. Or how can we lower both premiums and deductibles.

It’s a question of, how many people will lose their health care so that insurance company CEOs can continue to make millions each year.

How many grandparents will get kicked out of their nursing homes or how many hospitals and health care clinics have to close, so that Wall Street investors get a break on their taxes.

Today, the CBO gave us the answer: too many people. Too many people will be locked out of the health care system if this bill goes forward. All for giant tax cuts that benefit just a few.

Our health care system is not perfect. Changes need to be made. But this bill isn’t it. It has no clear guiding principle other than slashing Medicaid to pay for tax cuts.

We have got to start over here. We need Republicans to put this bill aside, and come to the table in good faith, and in the spirit of bipartisanship, so that we can actually do what people have been asking us to do: lower premiums. Fix the Affordable Care Act so that it works for everyone.

And that’s why so many Senators are speaking out against this bill. We’re here for the people who do not want to pay more money for less health care, for the families that are not rich, that play by the rules but (rightfully) want the security that comes with knowing that if something awful happens, they’ll be okay — at least financially.

It’s not too late to change course. There’s still time to pursue a real, bipartisan solution. That’s what Americans really want from us. Which is why I am hopeful that 3 or more of my Republican colleagues will do the right thing for the American people.

That’s all it takes — three Republicans.

Let’s stand together and defeat this bill, and work together on a better way forward.