Photo Courtesy of Sen. Gillibrand’s Office
“We must prevent this cruel and dangerous bill from ever becoming law,” Gillibrand said on Sunday.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Before the Tuesday afternoon firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey understandably hijacked the spotlight, the passage of the American Health Care Act in the House of Representatives dominated the national news.
And Democrats, including several elected officials who represent the city and state, were unhappy with the development – ripping the House’s party-line vote and imploring the Senate to reject the AHCA.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said that if so-called Trumpcare passes the Upper Chamber and becomes law, at least 24 million Americans would lose their health coverage and insurance companies would once again be allowed to charge people with preexisting conditions unaffordable prices for their insurance plans.
Gillibrand also noted that the AHCA would allow states to opt-out of requiring insurance companies to include maternity care and women’s preventive health coverage in their medical insurance plans.
“For thousands of families in our state, this is literally a fight to stay alive, and now that the bill passed the House on a party-line vote, this fight is more urgent than ever,” Gillibrand added. “We must prevent this cruel and dangerous bill from ever becoming law, and I urge everyone to raise their voices and speak out against it as forcefully as they can.”
According to Gillibrand, if the American Health Care Act that just passed the House becomes law, the following changes would take effect nationwide:
Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can only charge 50-64 year olds a maximum of three times more than they charge 21 year olds. Trumpcare would allow insurers to charge five times as much or allow states to waive that rule and establish their own ratios without any limit on how high they can go.
• Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers may not set different rates for those with pre-existing conditions. Trumpcare would allow states to charge higher monthly premiums to those with pre-existing conditions. This would once again allow women to be charged more than men for medical insurance.
• Trumpcare would cut Medicaid’s budget by 25 percent – $880 billion – over 10 years. This would take away essential services from a wide range of Americans including patients in nursing homes and disabled children in schools.
• Trumpcare would defund Planned Parenthood for one year, which would likely force many Planned Parenthood clinics to shut down. New York has 59 Planned Parenthood centers and more than 186,000 Planned Parenthood patients.
• Trumpcare would single out New York and California and eliminate federal tax credits for citizens in these two states, because their state laws require health insurance plans to offer abortion services.
“We should not be playing politics with people’s lives, and this move by the Republicans does exactly that. President Trump promised to eliminate Obama’s health care bill, and sadly his Republican allies just handed him this tragic victory,” said State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst). “A modern society should be moving forward, but the Republican-controlled Congress just chose to go backwards. This definitely puts an end to affordable health care for hard-working families. It is unacceptable that millions and millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage because of this, should the legislation have the votes to pass the Senate.”
City Comptroller Scott Stringer said, “If the AHCA ends up becoming law – in this form, or another – the effects could be catastrophic.”
