Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released a statement following the release of the GOP health care bill:
“This health care scheme sells out the middle class, hurts seniors and children and devastates individuals with disabilities to finance tax breaks for the very rich. Despite weeks of secretive deliberations, the Senate Republican bill is nearly identical to the House bill that raises premiums for middle class families, cuts nursing home care for seniors and will force children with disabilities to be institutionalized. The bill decimates Medicaid, which provides health care for over 722,000 Pennsylvanians with a disability and 1.1 million children. This scheme still includes an age tax on Americans between the ages of 50-64, undermines protections for those with preexisting conditions and takes away coverage for substance abuse treatment, which is vital in combatting the opioid epidemic. This legislation will cripple our efforts to battle opioid addiction in our country, deepening this public health crisis. This scheme will also devastate rural hospitals in Pennsylvania, forcing workers to lose their jobs and communities to lose their only hospitals.
The Senate Republican bill is a tax giveaway to the wealthiest Americans; the top one tenth of the one percent would receive thousands upon thousands of annual tax cuts while some individuals with disabilities lose coverage. That is obscene. Further, this legislative scheme that will take away health care for millions of Americans is being supported by a bunch of Senate Republicans whose health care coverage is guaranteed by the taxpayer. America is better than that; we can take care of vulnerable Americans and still have a growing economy for the middle class and keep our country safe.”
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