5 Things You Should Know: U.S. House of Representatives Vote to Repeal Healthcare
Yesterday, all House Democrats and 20 House Republicans voted against the American Health Care Act, also known as the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Here are some things you should know:
20 Republican Representatives joined the House Democrats in opposition to the bill. Four of these 20 moderates are from Pennsylvania, Representatives Charlie Dent, Brian Fitzpatrick, Patrick Meehan and Ryan Costello.
An estimated 24 million Americans will lose their health insurance. The Congressional Budget will release a new CBO score for the revised AHCA the House GOP passed on Thursday. Under the last scoring, it was expected that 1.3 million Pennsylvanians would lose their health coverage. With the additional cuts to the bill, this figure may rise.
Here’s How the PA Delegation Voted on AHCA
Children will be heavily impacted by cuts to Medicaid. The new AHCA estimates an $839 billion dollars cut from the Medicaid budget. Medicaid covers 2 out of 5 children born with disabilities and almost half of U.S births are covered by the program. Medicaid cuts will also severely impact the services children with disabilities will receive in school.
The AHCA does not guarantee coverage of pre-existing conditions. States can opt-out of requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions in their plans; these conditions can range from asthma and autism to pregnancy and depression. The GOP has touted so-called “high-risk pools to cover those in states without protections for pre-existing conditions, but their reality is far different.
The AHCA includes tax cuts, but only for the wealthy. The GOP plan still includes the ‘Cadillac tax’ on working people’s health benefits on employer-based health care; this is a 40% tax on employer-provided, health benefit plans above a threshold, which is estimated to impact a large section of the middle class. Meanwhile, large tax cuts will be given to insurance corporations, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers.
You can do something about this. Call your U.S. Senator at 1-888-865-8089 and tell them to vote NO on this bill.