Today, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), the Senate’s bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), has finally been made public after unprecedented secrecy.
In response, Physicians for Reproductive Health Advocacy Fellow Dr. Diane Horvath-Cosper issued the following statement:
“As a physician who witnesses the struggles of people who need health care, I know the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) will devastate the health of our country. The Senate bill will take away coverage from millions of patients, harming those who can least afford it: low-income women, people of color, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. It decimates Medicaid, cuts funding from Planned Parenthood, and will roll back women’s health by decades.
The ability to get health care is central to the well-being of our country—it affects our economic security, the stability of our families, our capacity to thrive. It is literally a matter of life or death for millions.
Let us be clear: Doctors do not want the BCRA. Patients do not want the BCRA. The only groups this bill will benefit are insurance executives, drug companies, and the wealthy.
The ability to get health care is central to the well-being of our country—it affects our economic security, the stability of our families, our capacity to thrive. It is literally a matter of life or death for millions. This is too important to write legislation in secret and to force a vote without thorough evaluation and debate. We need health care policies based on medical evidence, not arbitrary deadlines and politics.
No amendments will make this a good health care bill. We urge the Senate to listen to medical professionals, listen to the patients across the country, and stop this bill.”
