Statement by Joe Baker, President of the Medicare Rights Center, on Resurrected Senate Plans to Repeal the Affordable Care Act and Delay Replacement

New York, NY—Senate leadership will no longer advance the Better Care Reconciliation Act, a bill that would have slashed Medicaid, spiked costs for older adults, and yanked coverage away from 22 million Americans. We would welcome this news, if not for reports that the Senate will turn to an already discredited scheme to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without a meaningful and simultaneous replacement.

Repeal and delay would send the individual health insurance market into chaos and put the well-being and financial stability of older adults and people with disabilities at grave risk. The Congressional Budget Office finds that repeal of the ACA without an immediate replacement could cause 18 million Americans to lose coverage within a year, and 32 million to lose coverage within the decade. Over 4.5 million people ages 55 to 64 who rely on the ACA marketplaces or expansion Medicaid would be uninsured. Repeal would also send insurance premiums skyrocketing, doubling them within a decade.

We stand with the American people, most of whom already rejected this foolish plan. We urge members of Congress to put aside this unworkable scheme and focus instead on bipartisan solutions to enhance health care affordability and quality for all American families.

Press Contact: Mitchell Clark – mclark@medicarerights.org

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