FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement attributable to:
Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH
President and CEO
America’s Essential Hospitals
WASHINGTON — We welcome Senate leaders’ decision to pull back the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. We hope lawmakers seize on this opportunity to bring all stakeholders to the table and develop a plan to protect coverage for everyone—especially those in greatest need.
The newly surfaced plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) core provisions with a two-year delay is not the way to protect coverage and almost certainly would jeopardize care for people who face financial hardships.
The repeal-and-delay strategy would leave millions of lives in limbo and create uncertainty that would destabilize insurance markets and paralyze hospitals and other providers. Needed improvements and expansion of services would stall without a clear path forward, threatening access in communities across the country. Insurers might abandon the ACA marketplace, further degrading access.
Despite substantial work over the past several months on a replacement plan, the Senate seems no closer than when it started to finding a viable solution. We have little confidence a plan will exist to save an estimated 18 million people from losing insurance within a year of full repeal.
Repeal and delay creates a high likelihood of lost coverage, poorer health, and financial instability for millions of Americans and their families. We urge the Senate to return to the drawing board and consider more limited, targeted solutions to our health care challenges.
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About America’s Essential Hospitals
America’s Essential Hospitals is the leading association and champion for hospitals and health systems dedicated to high-quality care for all, including the most vulnerable. Since 1981, America’s Essential Hospitals has initiated, advanced, and preserved programs and policies that help these hospitals ensure access to care. We support members with advocacy, policy development, research, and education.
Our more than 300 members are vital to their communities, providing primary care through trauma care, disaster response, health professional training, research, public health programs, and other services. They innovate and adapt to lead the broader health care community toward more effective and efficient care.
Contact:
Carl Graziano
cgraziano@essentialhospitals.org
202.585.0102
