Lacking votes for passage, Sen. McConnell announces transition to tax reform

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(BOSTON, MA) – Statement of Robert Restuccia, executive director of Community Catalyst, in response to the failure of the Senate’s Graham-Cassidy proposal to move forward.

Statement of Robert Restuccia, executive director of Community Catalyst, in response to the failure of the Senate’s Graham-Cassidy proposal to move forward.

“Senate Republicans’ failure to secure enough votes to pass Graham-Cassidy, their latest plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and dismantle Medicaid, speaks volumes. As the most recent iteration of the GOP’s seeming obsession with taking away people’s health care, Graham-Cassidy’s passage would have not only caused millions of Americans to lose coverage, increased premiums and gutted Medicaid, but, even worse, would have opened a Pandora’s box full of bad policies designed to rollback critical consumer protections and destabilize the American health care system.

“Today’s announcement should be the end of the road for repeal, but we know many Republicans remain determined to pass a bill – apparently, any ‘lowest common denominator’ bill that would secure enough votes, no matter the content or consequences for the people they represent. That thinking is misguided. Continued efforts to repeal the ACA and gut Medicaid will be met with fierce resistance every step of the way.

“Congressional Republicans don’t have, and never have been able to come up with, a viable plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The American public, including their own constituents, have overwhelmingly rejected every single disastrous health care repeal proposal they have put forward, and want them to move on. They should honor those wishes and work in a bipartisan fashion to make the ACA and health care better for all Americans. It’s time to turn the page. We need a plan that builds on the ACA by expanding coverage, lowering out-of-pocket costs, addressing inequities, tackling prescription drug prices and improving the quality of care.

“The lesson of Graham-Cassidy is that this Congress continues to show its willingness to dismantle care for people in need. We should expect harmful health care proposals to emerge at the state and federal levels again. As an organization, we will remain vigilant and engaged, and we will continue to protect people from attacks on their care and access to treatment.”

 

About Community Catalyst
Community Catalyst is a national, non-profit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1998 with the belief that affordable quality health care should be accessible to everyone. We work in partnership with national, state and local organizations, policymakers, and philanthropic foundations to ensure consumer interests are represented wherever important decisions about health and the health system are made: in communities, courtrooms, statehouses and on Capitol Hill. For more information, visit www.communitycatalyst.org. Read our blog at http://blog.communitycatalyst.org. Follow us on Twitter @healthpolicyhub.