Washington D.C. – A staggering major survey released this week brings into focus how serious the health care affordability crisis has escalated since Republicans in Congress like U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX-15) passed Donald Trump’s Big Ugly Law that gutted Medicaid by $1 trillion, ripped away the Affordable Care Act tax credits that helped keep coverage affordable, and destabilized hospitals and clinics nationwide – all to pay for a wasteful tax giveaway to billionaires and big price-gouging corporations.
As reported by CNN: “Forgoing food. Cutting back on utilities. Driving less. Borrowing money. These are the sacrifices that tens of millions of people are making to afford their health care expenses, according to a West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America survey released Thursday. Roughly one-third of respondents – equivalent to more than 82 million Americans – said they have had to cut back on at least one daily living expense to cover their health care bills, according to the survey of nearly 20,000 adults, which was conducted from June through August.”
“Donald Trump and Republicans like Rep. De La Cruz promised a booming economy after making the deepest health care cuts in U.S. history to give billionaires and big corporations another tax break they didn’t need,” said Brad Woodhouse, President of Save My Care. “Instead, tens of millions of Americans are now going without food, driving, or heating their homes just to pay their ballooning health bills. Rural Americans are watching as the only hospitals within hundreds of miles shutter for good under the trillion-dollar Republican Medicaid cuts, compounding costs when they need care the most.
“The Trump-GOP health cuts have left seniors who rely on Medicaid to cut pills and meals in half,” added Woodhouse. “Republicans in Congress let the ACA’s tax credits expire and left millions of patients to give up other necessities to pay stupidly high premiums — or simply go without any coverage. Many Americans are now one emergency room visit away from medical bankruptcy, and no billionaire or greedy CEO that Rep. De La Cruz gave a tax break to will come to the rescue. And after all these years, the only health care plan ‘alternative’ Trump and Republicans have bothered to put forward offers worse coverage for more even money – a sick joke.”
BACKGROUND: THE TRUMP-REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS IS ONLY BEGINNING:
Families across the country are being crushed by GOP-driven sticker shock. On January 1st, premiums more than doubled for nearly 22 million families across the nation because Trump and Republicans took away the tax credits that made coverage more affordable to fund billionaire tax breaks, plunging the country into a health care affordability crisis. Over four million will lose their coverage because Republicans made it unaffordable. The Trump-GOP tax bill slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ripping coverage from more than 15 million people, raising premiums and costs for millions more, and closing rural hospitals, all to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.
This is the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, putting seniors and kids at risk:
- More than 6 in 10 seniors count on Medicaid to pay for a nursing home.
- Nearly 50 percent of kids count on Medicaid or CHIP for their health care and 41 percent of moms have health care when they give birth because of Medicaid.
Open Enrollment is already down by more than 1 million sign-ups, and the damage isn’t over. Enrollment will keep slipping month after month as families are forced to make painful choices between keeping their coverage and paying for rent, groceries, or gas. And for those who are auto-enrolled, many will be locked into pricier plans they can’t sustain, setting them up for coverage loss down the road.
The GOP tax scam will likely shutter over 330 rural hospitals, 100 urban hospitals and 570 nursing homesacross the country, creating health care deserts. As of early November, nearly 600 health care providers are at risk of closing or have closed due to the GOP’s war on health care. The GOP bill cuts hundreds of billions in critical funding for hospitals and nursing homes, buries them under the burden of uncompensated care, and forces hundreds to close their doors. Patients will have to travel hundreds of miles to get to an emergency room, maternity ward, or outpatient center.
Everyone, everywhere, will pay higher costs, regardless of where they get coverage. Because of GOP health care cuts, emergency rooms will become packed with uninsured patients who are unable to cover the cost of their care, leading to higher bills and increased premiums for everyone else, including people who get insurance through their employers. Rural hospitals will close, driving up costs at nearby facilities. Medicaid cuts on top of billions of dollars in cuts to research and medical training will have a severe impact on hospitals across the country, especially children’s hospitals.
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