Update: public comments are due by 9 AM Eastern Time Monday morning (25th). You can email your comments to GCHcomments@finance.senate.gov or visit willtrumpcarehurtme.com‘s email assist.
Not only do we have to fight to protect the ADA, we still have to fight for healthcare.
I’m starting to worry that this is going to be every fucking quarter, but I digress.
You can read the 141-paged plan (referred to as Cassidy-Graham, Graham-Cassidy, Graham-Cassidy-Heller, and Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson) but here’s the scoop on what this bill would do:
- Eliminates subsidies for private insurance
- Ends Medicaid expansion
- Caps Medicaid money, leaving millions of people uninsured
- Allows waivers to charge sick/ill/disabled patients more (fucking high-risk pools)
- Stops requirements on ACA-required benefits
- Repeals tax credits for middle class
- Puts up barriers to health insurance for low income people (and removes subsidies)
Cassidy and others have said this block grant program would simply give money to the states for them to decide. It’s essentially shifting ACA-type stuff to states rights type stuff, acting as though states could then keep ACA programs in place. Without the support at the federal level – and with a large number of anti-ACA governors – this won’t be the case.
One scary thing to note is that the Congressional Budget Office won’t have enough time to evaluate the bill before September 30th. This is the last day this bill could be passed with 50 votes (or 51 with VPence). Otherwise, filibuster could prevent the bill from being passed.
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| Source: Andy Slavitt’s Twitter; see alt-text for description |
This is a more radical version of repeal and replace efforts so far.
I’m tired of fighting, so I’m sure you are, too. If we don’t fight this one, though, we lose any progress we’ve made up to now.
What to do now:
- Contact your Senators (especially if you live in South Carolina, Louisiana, Nevada, or Wisconsin)
- Call them at 844-859-3118
- Use Indivisible’s call script if you like
- Use ResistBot
- Talk to them on social media
- Fax
- While you’re at it, tell them it’s unfair and illegal to strip the ACA’s funding
- Call them at 844-859-3118
- Protest and picket (if able)
- Get loud on social media
- Follow Andy Slavitt on Twitter for updates
- Use tags like #savetheACA
- Send letters to the editors or reach out to your local news to explain your concerns
Some organizations opposed to this bill:
- AARP
- Adult Congenital Heart Association
- ALS Association
- Alzheimer’s Association
- America’s Essential Hospitals
- America’s Health Insurance Plans
- American Academy of Family Physicians
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- American Cancer Society Action Network
- American College of Physicians
- American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
- American Diabetes Association
- American Foundation for the Blind
- American Heart Association
- American Hospital Association
- American Lung Association
- American Medical Association
- American Nurses Association
- American Osteopathic Association
- American Psychiatric Association
- American Psychological Association
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
- Amputee Coalition
- Arthritis Foundation
- Association of American Medical Colleges
- Autistic Self-Advocacy Network
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
- Center for Medicare Advocacy
- Children’s Hospital Association
- COPD Foundation
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- Family Voices
- Federation of American Hospitals
- Infectious Diseases Society of America
- JDRF
- Los Angeles LGBT Center
- Lutheran Services America
- March of Dimes
- Nationa Association of Medicaid Directors
- National Health Council
- National Institute for Reproductive Health
- National Multiple Sclerosis Society
- National Organization for Rare Diseases
- Planned Parenthood
- Public Health Institute
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Volunteers of America
- WomenHeart
Further reading:
- Behind New Obamacare Repeal Vote: ‘Furious’ GOP Donors
- Biggest Flash Points In The Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill
- Cassidy-Graham: The last GOP health plan left standing, explained
- Cassidy-Graham Plan’s Damaging Cuts to Health Care Funding Would Grow Dramatically in 2027
- Cassidy-Graham’s Waiver Authority Would Gut Protections for People with Pre-Existing Conditions
- Cassidy-Graham Would Deeply Cut and Drastically Redistribute Health Coverage Funding Among States
- Cassidy and Graham’s Shameless Dismissal of Jimmy Kimmel
- Doctors, Hospitals, And Insurers Ask Senate To Reject Graham-Cassidy
- Doctors: No – Physicians rarely agree on anything as strongly as they do that the Graham-Cassidy health-care bill is harmful.
- Graham, Cassidy unveil last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill
- Graham is ‘pressing on’ with the health-care bill. Other GOP senators signal they’re moving on.
- How Cassidy-Graham brings back preexisting conditions
- I’ve covered the GOP repeal plans since day one. Graham-Cassidy is the most radical.
- John McCain’s no vote won’t necessarily kill Graham-Cassidy health bill
- Latest Senate Health Care Bill Revives Age Tax for Older Americans
- Like Other ACA Repeal Bills, Cassidy-Graham Plan Would Add Millions to Uninsured, Destabilize Individual Market
- March of Dimes, American Heart Association oppose new Senate repeal-and-replace bill
- New Effort to Kill Obamacare Is Called ‘the Most Radical’
- New health-care plan stumbles under opposition from governors
- ‘Repeal and Go Fuck Yourself’ Is in Full Effect
- Republicans wind up one last Hail Mary to repeal Obamacare
- Study: 21 Million More Uninsured Under Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill
- The ‘fatal flaw’ in the new Obamacare-repeal bill
- The GOP’s last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill may be the worst one yet
- The Graham-Cassidy Bill: A Last-Ditch GOP Effort To Deprive Millions Of Health Care
- The Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill Would Ban Abortion Coverage in Obamacare Plans Starting in January
- These GOP Senators Could Block Republicans’ Obamacare Repeal
- Three Ways the New Republican Health Bill Differs From Past Repeal Efforts
Updated Sept 24
AGAIN?! This is SO. FAWKING. STUPID.
But thank you for posting this and urging people to contact their Senators. I did earlier this year, and I am going to write to them again right now.
Please use your voice! It makes a difference!