Mitch McConnell

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

A letter from 150 groups calls on U.S. senators to oppose the American Health Care Act, which would repeal the Affordable Care Act, slash Medicaid funding and defund Planned Parenthood health centers.

The result, these groups say, would be millions of individuals and families losing health coverage while cutting billions in taxes on the wealthy.

The letter states in part: “Repealing the ACA, and restructuring and reducing the financing and coverage of Medicaid as proposed by the American Health Care Act (AHCA), would leave at least 23 million people in the United States, particularly people of color and underserved populations, significantly worse off than under current law.

"The ACA and Medicaid are critical sources of health coverage for America’s traditionally underserved communities, which our organizations represent. This includes individuals and families living in poverty, people of color, women, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, individuals with disabilities, seniors, and individuals with limited English proficiency.

"The ACA has reduced the number of people without insurance to historic lows, including a reduction of 39 percent of the lowest income individuals and the impact on those who depend on Medicaid would be especially devastating.”

“Repealing the ACA and slashing Medicaid funding would be catastrophic to millions of vulnerable people, particularly people of color, women, seniors and people with disabilities,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “The ACA has increased the number of people with insurance to historic highs, enabling millions of Americans to gain access to affordable and quality health care. Additionally, defunding Planned Parenthood would take away vital healthcare services from millions of low-income people and people in rural areas. This bill does not reflect the values of our great country.”

“The Affordable Care Act is the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation. Current efforts underway in the Senate to repeal the law, gut Medicaid, defund Planned Parenthood and strip coverage from millions are downright shameful,” added Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. “We won’t stand by and let the Senate make deep, damaging cuts to Medicaid and deny millions of low-income people access to preventive and potentially life-saving care at Planned Parenthood health centers.”

Mara Youdelman, managing attorney of the National Health Law Program’s Washington, D.C., office, said, “Cutting $834 billion from the (Medicaid) program would decimate the ability of Medicaid to provide home and community-based services to allow people with disabilities to live, learn, work and thrive in their communities; pre-natal care that ensures nearly 50 percent of the children born in the U.S. are born healthy; nursing home care for older Americans because Medicare does not provide for it; mental health and substance use disorder treatment; and preventive and basic health care for millions of individuals."

She continued, "The American Health Care Act is shortsighted in providing massive tax cuts to the wealthy while ripping the health insurance rug out from underneath low-income individuals who will still need health care even if it is not provided.”

At the National Council of La Raza, Janet Murguía, president and CEO, said, “The AHCA is one of the worst pieces of domestic policy that we’ve seen in years and would be devastating to communities of every kind, including Latinos. It’s a horrible bill that will deprive millions of Americans from critical health insurance, in particular the more than four million Latino adults and over 600,000 Latino children that gained coverage since 2013 under the ACA."

“In the last seven years, more people and families have been able to get health coverage than ever before in the history of our nation,” said Kathy Ko Chin, president and CEO of Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum. “Yet the Senate’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act and end Medicaid as we know it would turn the course of history and result in millions of people, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, losing their ability to afford quality coverage and care.”

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