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Thursday, Mar 28th

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You are here: Opinions Viewpoints Health Action NM applauds leaders who stood up against ‘Trumpcare’

Health Action NM applauds leaders who stood up against ‘Trumpcare’

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ALBUQUERQUE – After it became clear the Senate did not have the votes to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that the Senate would vote to repeal funding for Affordable Care Act and leave a replacement for the future.  By Tuesday morning, three Republican Senators released statements indicating they would vote “No” on such efforts. “I did not come to Washington to hurt people,” said Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV).

“We applaud the Senators who stood up against this disastrous plan,” said Barbara Webber, Executive Director of Health Action New Mexico. “It is now time to seek bipartisan solutions to improve the health care system for all people.”

The repeal-and-delay strategy would lead to 32 million Americans losing health coverage, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released earlier this year. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, the strategy would also cause a death spiral.

President Donald Trump has floated a different strategy, saying “Let Obamacare fail and it will be a lot easier. And I think we’re probably in that position where we’ll let Obamacare fail. We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it. We’ll let Obamacare fail and then the Democrats are going to come to us.”

However, a number of independent assessments have concluded that the Obamacare markets are stabilizing. But the Trump Administration is threatening to tank the markets by rescinding cost sharing reductions that lower out-of-pocket costs for enrollees. Health insurance companies in New Mexico have cited these threats as reasons for hiking premiums.

“By threatening cost sharing reductions, the Trump Administration has set the wheels in motion for increased premiums,” said Webber. “Ending these payments could cause a death spiral. It would be deeply cynical and irresponsible to use people’s health care as a political pawn. Any attempt to undermine the integrity of the health care market is unacceptable. We need to focus on providing stability for families rather than causing fear and uncertainty.”

Health Action New Mexico is a health consumer advocacy non-profit organization that focuses on bringing all New Mexico communities access to quality healthcare services. For more information, visit www.healthactionnm.org.

By Health Action New Mexico