WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Republicans successfully voted a newly revised version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) through the US House of Representatives. The bill will now advance to the Senate.
The health care bill is designed to repeal and replace aspects of the existing Obamacare legislation. It passed the House with a total of 217 “yes” votes to 213 “no” votes.
The Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus denounced the passage of thee AHCA, “It’s unfortunate that so many House members decided to ram through this dangerous legislation without sufficient debate or even a CBO score,” said LGBT Equality Caucus Executive Director Roddy Flynn. “What we know for sure is that AHCA will rip health care coverage away from the most vulnerable among us, including LGBT people who suffer from higher levels of poverty and greater health disparities. The impact on older LGBT Americans will be particularly hard felt. The dramatic increase in out of pocket costs will make health insurance unavailable for millions of Americans. We hope the Senate will stop this disastrous legislation from ever becoming law.”
The AHCA would undermine the Medicaid program and rollback the ACA’s Medicaid Expansion, which provides access to health care for millions of low-income Americans, including those who are LGBT or living with HIV. The AHCA would particularly harm older LGBT Americans, as it significantly raises out of pocket costs for Americans in their 50s and 60s. LGBT older Americans face greater health disparities and are more likely to be low income or live in poverty than the general population, and would particularly feel the impact of this out of pocket price increase.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD called the passage of the bill “dangerous” and “destructive,” “The U.S. House rammed through a destructive and dangerous bill that could strip away health insurance from millions of Americans, including many in the LGBTQ community,” said Ellis. “Health care is a human right, and no one should be denied access to care because of a preexisting condition or because a program like Planned Parenthood does not fit the ideology of one political party. Now more than ever, it’s time to buckle down and keep fighting to protect the healthcare that the LGBTQ community deserves.”
In a statement, Amanda Ballantyne, national director Main Street Alliance, a national network of small business coalitions said, “Today’s vote is a shameful display of partisan politics at its worst. Despite unprecedented outrage from constituents, House Republicans voted to take health care away from 24 million Americans, cut essential health care benefits, abandon Americans with pre-existing conditions, slash Medicaid, and raise health care costs for all families – all of this to give over $600 billion in tax breaks to the very wealthy and the big insurance and drug companies.
“The economic and human impacts of this bill on Main Street Alliance small businesses can’t be overstated – it would kill the local economies small business owners rely on to keep their doors open. Millions of people who own or work in small businesses would face losing their health care as a result of the vote today – the 4 million small business owners, employees, and self-employed entrepreneurs that gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and the additional 6.1 million small business workers that enrolled in Medicaid as part of its expansion.”
