Washington, DC — Because taking away health care from millions of Americans apparently wasn’t enough, congressional Republicans now want EVEN MORE health care cuts to fund their unpopular and expensive war in Iran. But billionaires, don’t you worry! Republicans aren’t touching your tax breaks…
Tone deaf doesn’t begin to describe this latest proposal by Republicans in Congress. Well before the war in Iran, Republicans in Congress voted to:
- End the ACA tax credits, which have sent premiums skyrocketing and could force nearly 5 million Americans to forgo health insurance altogether.
- Make the biggest cut to Medicaid in history, which puts rural hospitals at risk of closure, to fund more tax breaks for the ultra-rich.
- Leave 15 million Americans without health care.
And now, they’re floating additional health care cuts that would take insurance away from even more Americans and raise costs even higher.
“Republicans are really sticking to their brand here: First they slashed Medicaid, then they drove up premiums and put millions more people at risk of losing coverage, and now they’re asking, ‘what if we cut even more?’” said Unrig Our Economy Campaign Director Leor Tal. “More families may lose their ability to see a doctor because Republicans in Congress want to fund a war and protect their precious tax breaks for billionaires. You simply can’t make this stuff up.”
Key Points from Axios:
GOP weighs health care cuts to pay for Iran war
- Republicans are considering reductions in federal health spending to help pay for a budget bill containing as much as $200 billion to fund the Iran war and immigration enforcement.
- Why it matters: New efforts to rein in health programs are sure to be controversial and open the GOP up to election-year attacks that they’re cutting health care to pay for an unpopular war.
- House Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) is reviving an idea that was considered last year to fund Affordable Care Act payments known as cost-sharing reductions.
- It would cut the subsidy amount that some enrollees receive, thereby increasing out-of-pocket premium costs, while saving the government over $30 billion.
- Many Republicans want any bill to be fully paid for, which is where potential health care changes come in.
- The big picture: Arrington told Axios that he’d personally like to include two major health care savers in Medicare.
- One, known as “site-neutral” payments, would equalize payment across hospital outpatient facilities and doctors’ offices. A second would crack down on what critics say is insurance company gaming of the Medicare Advantage system through “upcoding” of patients’ medical conditions.
To learn more about the campaign, visit UnrigOurEconomy.com or contact press@unrigoureconomy.com
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About Unrig Our Economy
Unrig Our Economy is a national campaign to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people. We know that when the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding corporations, their wealthy executives, and the politicians who enable them accountable.