| Dear Katy, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Trump Republicans have not given up their quest to gut our health care. Two extreme right-wing Republican senators from South Carolina and Louisiana – Senator Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, respectively – just introduced a so-called compromise bill (Graham-Cassidy) to win over the supposedly moderate wing of their party. But make no mistake, their latest proposal is just as cruel and heartless as the Trumpcare bills that came before it. Graham-Cassidy would roll back Medicaid expansion, end protections for people with pre-existing conditions and cut funding to Planned Parenthood.1 Mitch McConnell is so desperate for a win on health care that he is now trying to ram through the Graham-Cassidy bill by Sept. 30 to avoid a democratic filibuster and the public scrutiny of the bill's dangerous impact.2 Our collective activism helped stop Trumpcare three times before. Now, we need to use the same grassroots power to block this latest attack and make sure that we defeat the Republicans' zombie Trumpcare bill once and for all. Tell Congress: Do everything in your power to protect our health care. Block the dangerous Graham-Cassidy bill. Click here to sign the petition. Republicans are using the same old dirty tricks to advance this latest version of Trumpcare. Once again, they are pushing through a secretive bill to steal health care from millions of people that they drafted behind closed doors and with no time for public hearings, constituent input or amendments. The Graham-Cassidy bill would: - End employer-provided health coverage for many Americans.
- Eliminate subsidies that help middle- and low-income people purchase health plans.
- Dramatically cut funding to support states' Medicaid costs and allow states to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries, an attack that could leave millions of people with disabilities and low-income families without health coverage.
- Give states the power to remove more expensive health services like maternity care from the list of essential benefits that insurance providers are required to cover.
- Allow insurance providers to charge more and reduce the quality of care for people with pre-existing conditions.
- Defund Planned Parenthood.
- Increase health care premiums for seniors.3,4,5,6
Graham-Cassidy would also replace federal funding for Medicaid expansion and health care subsidies with a state block grant that would shrink over time. The block grant gives states the power to design their own health programs but less money to run them. Many Democratic states like California, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and the federal government gave them more funding to cover the cost of new and more Medicaid beneficiaries. Graham-Cassidy would force states to absorb the cost of expanding Medicaid and eventually roll back the expansion. By 2026, states that expand Medicaid would have 50 percent less federal funding to keep the program going.7 Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who opposes the bill, has called Graham-Cassidy's block grant scheme a "game" to take away federal funding from Democratic states.8 It is also an insidious attack on the health care of more than 15 million low-income people covered under Medicaid expansion.9 Senate Republicans claim they are just a few votes short of repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with Graham-Cassidy, which is why we must speak out now.10 Tell Congress: Do everything in your power to protect our health care. Block the dangerous Graham-Cassidy bill. Click here to sign the petition. We have signed petitions. We have made calls. We have showed up to congressional offices. We have shared videos, graphics and articles via our social media channels. Our activism has worked to defeat Trumpcare before, and we can win again if we put forward a massive show of resistance against Trump Republicans' latest attempt to gut our health care. Will you help ramp-up the pressure now to make sure members of Congress do the right thing and reject the heartless Graham-Cassidy bill? Tell Congress: Do everything in your power to protect our health care. Block the dangerous Graham-Cassidy bill. Click on the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Resist_GrahamCassidy?t=8&akid=25055%2E12967895%2EJjZCo5 Thank you for your activism. Nicole Regalado, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Sarah Kliff, "Cassidy-Graham: The last GOP health plan left standing, explained," Vox, Sept. 13, 2017.
- Dylan Scott, "Senate Republicans claim they are a few votes away from repealing Obamacare," Vox, Sept. 15, 2017.
- Kim Soffen, "There's one Obamacare repeal bill left standing. Here's what's in it." The Washington Post, Sept. 6, 2017.
- Scott, "Senate Republicans claim they are a few votes away from repealing Obamacare."
- Kliff, "Cassidy-Graham: The last GOP health plan left standing, explained."
- Jennifer Haberkorn, "Graham, Cassidy unveil last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill," POLITICO, Sept. 13, 2017.
- Margaret Hartmann, "4 Ways Graham-Cassidy Would Make the Health-Care System Far Worse," New York Magazine, Sept. 19, 2017.
- Ibid.
- Kaiser Family Foundation, "5 Ways the Graham-Cassidy Proposal Puts Medicaid Coverage At Risk," Sept. 19, 2017.
- Dan Mangan, "Senator says Obamacare repeal bill close to enough votes to pass, but there's reason to be skeptical," CNBC, Sept. 15, 2017.
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