Congressional Republicans spent the entirety of 2017 trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Our own representative, Martha McSally, voted to repeal it each time it came up for a vote. Each effort was made strictly along partisan lines, with no expert input and almost no hearings or healthy debate required by legislation of such magnitude.
Republicans’ first attempt at repeal — the American Health Care Act — would have spiked premiums by 15-20 percent for the average American in 2018 and 2019. Repeal of the ACA would have also stripped health-care coverage from 130 million Americans living with pre-existing conditions.
The “skinny repeal” plan introduced in the Senate last June would have increased the number of uninsured by 22 million by 2026 in comparison to current law. Republicans made a last-ditch effort to repeal the ACA in September with the Graham-Cassidy bill — which would have stripped health insurance from 32 million Americans.
While Congress hastily tried — and failed — to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration got to work sabotaging the law. President Trump threatened to withhold vital cost-sharing reduction payments from insurers, decided to cut the open enrollment period for health-care coverage in half, and reduced the ACA’s advertising budget by 90 percent.
Meanwhile, as Republicans were wrapped up in their partisan, backdoor dealings to repeal and sabotage health care, the rate of uninsured people in the U.S. spiked significantly. In 2017, the percentage of uninsured Americans increased to 12.2 percent — a 1.3 percent increase from the record low of 10.9 percent recorded in 2016.
That amounts to 3.2 million Americans who became uninsured in the first year of the Trump administration.
Republicans put partisan politics ahead of the health and well-being of Americans last year, and more than 3 million people lost health coverage as a result.
Enough is enough. It’s time to lead.
Republicans’ efforts to sabotage the ACA in 2017 ignored a very important voice: that of the American people. The ACA is more popular than ever before, with 57 percent of adults saying that the continuation of the law would be a good thing for the country.
The American people signed up for health coverage through the ACA in record-breaking numbers — an obvious show of support for the law despite the administration’s endless attempts to undermine enrollment at Healthcare.gov. Americans realize the ACA isn’t perfect, but they don’t want it repealed — they want it improved. This can only succeed if it is done across the aisle.
Approximately 48 percent of Americans said that health care was their No. 1 voting issue in a recent Associated Press-NORC poll. Voters opposed Republican health-care repeal bills by 17 points, and they were 47 percent less likely to support representatives that voted to repeal of the law.
An overwhelming concern for health care propelled Democrats victories in elections across the country last year — from Virginia to Alabama and even a deep-red state Senate district in Wisconsin. Health care isn’t just the most important issue in this year’s midterm elections — it’s a winning issue.
In 2018, our representatives in Washington must put aside petty partisan politics that distract us from tackling the issues at hand. We are counting on Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain to stand up for us, and demand that any changes to our country’s health-care system are made in a bipartisan fashion — not through sneaky partisan loopholes.
Southern Arizonans want Congress to come together to address the issues that matter most to their families. As we enter into a new year, it’s long past time for Congress to listen.
