Senator Cantwell says ‘Trumpcare’ bill will strip health insurance from millions of Americans

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell is calling the Republican revival of “Trumpcare” — the Graham-Cassidy bill advanced by Senate Republicans to roll back significant elements of the Affordable Care Act — “just one more sneak attack by our colleagues at kicking people off of Medicaid.”

Cantwell (D-WA) delivered a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate Tuesday opposing the latest version of Republicans health care bill.

“[Graham Cassidy] is just one more sneak attack by our colleagues at kicking people off of Medicaid,” Cantwell said in her remarks.

“Our job here has to be about affordability, it has to be about driving down costs, it has to be about driving down costs in the individual market and in the system overall.

“There is nothing good about kicking 15 million people off of Medicaid and sunsetting it in this bill. My colleagues are advocating the privatization of Medicaid,” Cantwell said.

According to Cantwell’s office, the Graham-Cassidy Trumpcare bill echoes the Republicans’ previous failed effort to replace the ACA (also called Obamacare) in a number of ways, including:

• Establishing a per-capita cap on Medicaid;

• Ending the Medicaid expansion;

• Rolling back protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions;

• Allowing states to impose burdensome work requirements as a condition of Medicaid coverage; and

• Ending health insurance coverage away from millions of Americans.

The latest legislation is worse than its predecessor, Cantwell said, because it also:

• Repeals the Medicaid expansion, premium tax credits, cost-sharing reduction payments, and Senator Cantwell’s Basic Health Program in favor of an inadequate block grant;

• Proposes a block grant for states without any consumer safeguards; and

• Creates a funding cliff that eliminates the guarantee of coverage in 2026.

• Print
• Email
• Tweet