Coloradans should brace for higher premiums and dwindling coverage
PRESS RELEASE
Date: December 20, 2017
Contact: Adam Fox, 303-563-9108, afox@cohealthinitiative.org
DENVER – Colorado health care advocates blasted the Republican tax “heist” that repeals a major component of the ACA and makes health care cuts that will hit working and middle-class Coloradans.
The bill, expected to be signed into law within days, both repeals the ACA’s individual mandate and sets up dramatic funding cuts for vital health-care programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
“What the GOP did today is cold-hearted and short-sighted. Republicans ignored voters’ wishes, leaving 13 million more Americans without affordable health coverage and increasing insurance premiums to give tax cuts to the top 1% and multinational corporations, all while adding $1.4 to $2.2 trillion to the deficit,” said Adam Fox, Director of Strategic Engagement of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and Coalition Organizer for the Protect Our Care Colorado Coalition. “To fund these tax breaks, Republicans plan to cut health-related programs middle-class families rely on to get by and get ahead, including Medicaid by $1 trillion and Medicare by $400 billion.”
“With just one partisan vote, little public input and a rushed debate, Congress narrowly chose to destabilize the insurance market by ending the individual mandate and set the stage to end many aspects of healthcare as we know it. Every Colorado Republican in Congress just voted to increase insurance premiums across our state. They gut health care to enrich millionaires and gut punch Colorado families.”
“Rather than ensuring Coloradans have the opportunity to earn a good life and to have the health care they need, this bill serves the well-connected, special interests, and big corporations, not the middle class and those working to pull themselves out of poverty.” said Adam Fox of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “They are preventing middle class families from getting ahead.”
“When health insurance premiums go up again next year, Coloradans will know who is responsible. It is clear from this vote where the priorities of our Congressional Republicans lie.”
###
Protect Our Care Colorado is a coalition of 48 organizations in Colorado advocating to protect the health care of Coloradans. To learn more about the coalition, visit ProtectOurCareCo.org