Congressional Budget Office Confirms Republican Senate Bill Will Be Devastating for Millions of Americans
“Better Care Reconciliation Act” would devastate Medicaid and leave 22 million Americans without health coverage—with 15 million of them uninsured next year alone
WASHINGTON, DC—The Congressional Budget Office issued an analysis today of the Senate Republicans’ “Better Care Reconciliation Act,” a bill that confirms the fears of millions of Americans worried about losing their health insurance. The nonpartisan office shed light on a bill developed in a secretive, closed-door process, estimating that 22 million people would be left without coverage and at least $772 billion would be cut from Medicaid by 2026.
“The Senate Republican health care plan continued the disaster of the House’s ‘American Health Care Act.’ Rather than improve our health care system, the proposed plan would make health insurance unaffordable and inaccessible to millions of seniors, the poor, the sick, and hardworking families, including millions of Latino families, to instead provide tax giveaways to drug companies and the top 1 percent,” said NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía.
“Every single state will be impacted by this shameful effort that undermines the nation’s health care system, and every American will be taken back to a time when one illness or health condition for them or a family member could lead to bankruptcy. Millions of Latinos who work hard and are in jobs that do not have employer-provided health insurance rely on Medicaid or private insurance in the health exchanges and they are all at risk with this proposal,” said Murguía.
While Latinos remain the least likely to have health insurance, some states have made remarkable progress in reducing Hispanic child uninsurance rates. In just two years, Colorado and Nevada, for example, were able to cut the number of Latino children who lacked coverage in half. Both the House and Senate GOP bills threaten these record gains. Medicaid cuts would jeopardize the health of 18 million Latinos, including that of 3 million Latinos who obtained coverage through the Medicaid expansion. In Florida alone, for example, 1.1 million Hispanics are in danger of losing their health insurance; in Arizona, that number is nearly 930,000.
“The stakes are incredibly high and it is imperative that we take action now and tell our Senators to oppose this plan,” said Murguía. “No national health reform plan should result in more Americans becoming uninsured and senators, like their House colleagues, who vote to do that should be ashamed of themselves and, if not, the voters should hold them accountable.”