In a report released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, 22 million people would lose insurance coverage by 2026 under the proposed Senate health care repeal bill.
In response, Physicians for Reproductive Health’s Advocacy Fellow Dr. Diane Horvath-Cosper issued the following statement:
“Today’s CBO report confirms what we already knew. The Senate’s health care repeal 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.
“Today’s CBO report confirms what we already knew. The Senate’s health care repeal bill will take away coverage from millions of patients, harming those who can least afford it.”
These are the numbers to focus on: The Affordable Care Act keeps millions of people healthy. Before the Affordable Care Act, 8 in 10 private plans did not cover maternity care. The uninsured rate among women of reproductive age dropped by 36% under the Affordable Care Act. Almost 13 million women receive their insurance through Medicaid and nearly half of the births in the United States are covered by Medicaid.
By eliminating lifesaving health insurance coverage for millions of people, the Senate’s cruel bill will cause preventable suffering and death. No amendment 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.”