Like previous attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Graham-Cassidy bill would have a devastating effect on our nation’s health. The bill would result in 32 million people losing health insurance—15 million in the first year alone.[1]
This unconscionable act would cut Medicaid more than in previous bills, end Medicaid expansion, and allow insurers to charge more for pre-existing conditions, cut essential health benefits, increase out-of-pocket costs, and reinstate lifetime caps.[2] Under the Graham-Cassidy bill, people would pay 20 percent more for the same ACA coverage.[3]
Graham-Cassidy would cut more than $4 trillion from Medicaid over the next two decades.[4] Medicaid provides essential care for our communities, covering one in five Americans. Three-quarters of nonelderly Medicaid enrollees are in working families. Four in 10 children and nearly half of all births are covered by Medicaid. Medicaid pays for more than half of all spending on long-term services and support for older adults and people with disabilities.[5]
Medicaid funding also creates and pays for jobs. Medicaid cuts in previous legislation were estimated to cause the loss of one million jobs by 2026, with as many as 713,000 of the losses falling on home care workers[6]—at a moment when our nation needs to attract more caregivers.
This bill would hurt working people and those struggling to find good jobs, as well as infants and children, older adults, people with health conditions, and people with disabilities. By most estimates, the Graham-Cassidy proposal is worse than previous iterations of health care legislation. Voting for it, in this rushed manner, would make access to health care worse for Americans.
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[1] http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/blog/2017/sep/potential-effects-of-graham-cassidy
[2] https://www.cbpp.org/blog/cassidy-graham-would-end-medicaid-expansion-in-2020-leave-millions-of-low-income-adults
[3] https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/like-other-aca-repeal-bills-cassidy-graham-plan-would-add-millions-to-uninsured
[4] https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/20/obamacare-repeal-to-slash-funds-to-states-by-4-trillion-over-20-years.html
[5] http://files.kff.org/attachment/Fact-Sheet-Medicaid-Pocket-Primer
[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/25/1-million-jobs-on-the-line-as-senate-votes-on-health-care/?utm_term=.e6c2f2e132bb and https://www.healthinnovation.org/resources/publications/capping-medicaid
