28 Texas Groups Urge Rep. Hurd to Vote No on Health Care Repeal
For Immediate Release
Contact: Peter Clark, [email protected]
AUSTIN – Twenty-eight Texas organizations sent the following letter to Congressman Will Hurd last night urging him to vote no on the health care repeal bill currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress. According to media reports, the House of Representatives may vote on the bill this week. The vote is expected to be close.
Rep. Hurd, whose district stretches from San Antonio to El Paso and along the Texas-Mexico border, has not stated his position on the bill and is considered one of the “swing votes” that could decide the outcome.
The text of the letter is below:
May 1, 2017
Representative Will Hurd
U.S. House of Representatives
317 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Hurd:
The 28 undersigned Texas organizations write to express our strong opposition to the revised American Health Care Act (AHCA) and urge you to vote against the bill. Our organizations work on behalf of Texas children, families, patients, and consumers to ensure Texans have access to affordable health care.
As you know, the revised AHCA bill still includes harmful provisions that were in the original legislation introduced in March 2017. Those provisions would:
Leave 24 million more Americans uninsured;
Increase the cost of insurance for millions of Americans, particularly those over age 50, in rural areas, and/or on a tight budget; and
Cut Medicaid funding and protections for Texas children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities.
The new MacArthur amendment would also allow states to:
Strip protections for pre-existing conditions; and
Strip requirements for insurance companies to cover essential benefits such as maternity care, prescription drugs, and mental health care.
In your district alone, more than 300,000 people are estimated to have pre-existing conditions that would have resulted in denial had they tried to buy coverage in Texas’ pre-ACA individual insurance market. The revised bill would put at risk their access to affordable health care by once again allowing insurers to charge more--possibly much more--to some people with pre-existing conditions. The bill’s provisions for federal or state high-risk pools or reinsurance programs do not guarantee that there will be subsidies to make the higher-priced coverage affordable at all incomes, and the proposed funding falls short of what actuaries say would be needed.
In addition, an estimated 42,400* constituents in your district would lose their health coverage by 2026 under this bill.
Under this plan, Texas would receive less federal funding for providing health care to the low-income children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities who currently rely on Medicaid. These cuts will threaten already-low provider reimbursement rates and increase barriers to care in rural communities.
We urge you to vote no on this bill because it would leave millions without coverage and would not make coverage more affordable. We ask you to vote no to help those who were previously uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions, and to prevent cuts to health care for Texas children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities.
We appreciate your consideration.
Sincerely,
Bob Kafka
Organizer
ADAPT of Texas
Dale Eastman
Chair of Advocacy and Government Relations
Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation
C. Tony Dunn, MD, FACOG
Chair
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists-District XI (Texas)
Gretchen Walton
Executive Director
Breast Health Collaborative of Texas
Anne Dunkelberg
Associate Director
Center for Public Policy Priorities
Patrick Bresette
Executive Director
Children's Defense Fund-Texas
Stacy E. Wilson, J.D.
President
Children’s Hospital Association of Texas
Fred Hines
President and CEO
Clarity Child Guidance Center
Dennis Borel
Executive Director
Coalition of Texans with Disabilities
Christina Buttler
Navigator Project Manager and Grant Compliance Coordinator
Coastal Bend Center for Independent Living
Mary Faithfull
Executive Director
Disability Rights Texas
Celia Cole
CEO
Feeding Texas
Elaine Wiant
President
League of Women Voters of Texas
Shannon Lucas
Regional Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs, South Central Region
March of Dimes
Greg Hansch
Public Policy Director
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Texas
Miriam Nisenbaum
Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers/Texas Chapter
Simone Nichols-Segers
Government Relations Manager
National MS Society, Texas
Patty Ducayet
State Long-term Care Ombudsman
Office of the Texas State Long-term Care Ombudsman
Jackie Pontello, J.D.
Executive Director
One Voice Texas: A Collaborative for Health and Human Services
Cathy Cranston
Organizer
Personal Attendant Coalition of Texas
Kimberly Carter, MD, FACOG
President
Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Jaime Estrada
President
Texas Doctors for Social Responsibility
Bee Moorhead
Executive Director
Texas Impact
Michelle Tremillo
Executive Director
Texas Organizing Project
Joyce Elizabeth Mauk, MD
President
Texas Pediatric Society
Stephanie Rubin
CEO
Texans Care for Children
Kyle Piccola
Chief Government and Community Relations Officer
The Arc of Texas
Maggie Jo Buchanan
Southern Director
Young Invincibles
* An updated analysis estimates that 74,700 people in Rep. Hurd's congressional district would lose coverage under the bill.