WHITE PLAINS – Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D, NY-17) heard from constituents in Rockland and Westchester counties on how they feel about Republican efforts to dump the Affordable Care Act and adopt their own model, which they are calling the American Health Care Act.
The comments came during town hall meetings Lowey held in Thiells and White Plains on Saturday.
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-17), right, organized the town hall sessions on “Trumpcare”
“Cuts to Medicaid would take away medical care, compromise critical services and jeopardize millions of Americans, putting their health and their lives at risk,” said Jill Warner, CEO of Jawonio, Inc. “For many people with disabilities and mental health challenges at Jawonio and similar organizations, Medicaid cuts as proposed, would threaten access to essential services that support our most vulnerable citizens to exercise their basic human right to live, work and participate in the community.”
Supporters of the GOP bill “urge that it would allow individuals
to have access to buying insurance, as an end in and of itself,”
said Bea Grause, president of the Healthcare Association of New York.
“We believe a more important measure of good and meaningful policy
for all Americans would be their having not just the opportunity to buy
insurance, but to be able to afford meaningful health insurance coverage
that ensures access to quality health care services.”
Regardless of one’s view on the role of government, Larry Levine, president of Blythedale Children’s Hospital, told the town hall meeting that government “has the responsibility to protect kids, so they can get the medical and preventative care they need to grow into healthy adults, and to never turn away from sick and disabled children.” He said proponents of the Republican bill do not talk about the impact it would have on children. “We owe all children the chance to have healthy starts to their lives, and to be treated when they are ill, short or long-term. They have the right to be treated, and each and every one of them, as if they were our children, because they are.”
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has predicted that 14 million Americans would lose health care coverage under AHCA, dubbed “Trumpcare,” by the end of 2018, and 24 million would lose coverage by 2026.
Lowey, who strongly opposes the Republican plan, said “the President and Congressional Republicans are moving as fast as possible to pass this bill, apparently in hopes that Americans won’t realize its impact.” She said Trumpcare, “would result in 24 million Americans losing coverage, eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, end Medicaid as we know it, and force hardworking families and older New Yorkers to pay more for less.”
