This week, conservative congressional leaders will again attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a bill that will leave millions without access to health insurance and attacks reproductive health from preventive care, to maternity care, to abortion care.
In response, Physicians for Reproductive Health board chair Dr. Willie Parker issued the following statement:
“As a health care provider who sees the benefits of the Affordable Care Act every day, the damage that the latest effort to repeal the ACA would have to our patients’ health and abilities to thrive cannot be overstated.
The damage that the latest effort to repeal the ACA would have to our patients’ health and abilities to thrive cannot be overstated.
I once heard someone say, ‘You can move the deck chairs around on the Titanic, but a sinking ship is a sinking ship.’ Nowhere is this principle made clearer than the current effort to rush through a fatally flawed effort to reverse access to medical care that saves lives and prevents suffering.
This bill directly attacks reproductive health care and would put access to health care services completely out of reach for millions of patients. It would gut Medicaid as we know it by capping Medicaid funding and ending the Medicaid expansion. It would allow states to opt out of the ACA’s consumer protections, like protections for patients with pre-existing conditions and requiring plans to include essential health benefits like maternity care and mental health services. Additionally, the Graham-Cassidy bill would defund Planned Parenthood and include restrictions on private insurance coverage of abortion for plans in the marketplace.
It is vital for the Senate to listen to medical professionals because we know what this bill would really do: damage public health for generations. Doctors want Congress to improve our patients’ access to health care, not destroy what is a literal lifeline for millions of patients.”