Stop Repeal in its Tracks: The 25
Well, they finally did it. House Republicans rammed through committee their Obamacare Repeal plan where over 20 million Americans will lose their health insurance: 12.7 million enrolled in the Federal or state health exchanges and 10 million beneficiaries of Medicaid expansion. And the Republican replace plan (AHCA) would be just a cruel joke if it weren’t for the suffering in store for millions of our poor, old and sick fellow citizens. Corroborating our numbers, on March 13, the independent Congressional Budget Office estimated that the AHCA would leave 24 million Americans without health coverage. The AHCA has to still pass the full House and then the Senate.
BUT WE CAN STOP REPEAL IN ITS TRACKS IF WE ACT NOW.
The key lies in the House of Representatives. 22 Republicans would have to vote “No” for Repeal and Replace to fail. We at VoteHealth have identified the 25 most vulnerable Republicans who should be most susceptible to appeals, if not to their principles, to their self-interest i.e. re-election.
Our formula is simple:
- These are House Republicans in districts that Hillary won. They were elected by Hillary voters crossing over (what were they thinking of?). Over 94% of Hillary voters support the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
- To these crossover votes, we added the number of VOTERS in the district benefiting from the ACA and Medicaid expansion. (We believe this is a first – while state and even county level data are available, VoteHealth.org has calculated these numbers for each Congressional district.)
It may be surprising that 70% of ACA/Medicaid expansion beneficiaries are in the prime demographics of Trump supporters, so there is little overlap with the Hillary votes. We believe these voters will mobilize against Repeal once they realize their health benefits are in jeopardy.
The strength of this HealthVote coalition is overwhelming: from 2.5 to 80 times the votes needed to defeat these 25 Republicans in 2018 and take back the House. If we act now to make sure the Representatives know this, they may well see it in their self-interest to vote against Repeal NOW.
ACT NOW!
CLICK on the thumbnail of your Congressperson or select from the District dropdown menu. You’ll find contact information about the Representatives, their voting history, the strength of the HealthVote in their districts as well as a tailored letter/script you can use.
SHARE this post and/or the District page and urge your friends to action. We have very little time.
CALL your Congressperson to voice your opposition to repeal.
WRITE to your Congressperson. Personalize the cut-and-paste letter if you can with your or others’ health care experience. Post on their Facebook page. Tweet your opposition. Spread the word.
WE CAN STOP REPEAL IN ITS TRACKS.
While America was sleeping, these stalwart Republicans, in the dead of night, rushed through committee without holding a single public hearing, a bill to replace Obamacare that will negatively affect the lives, health and finances of almost every American.
Under the Republican replacement plan, most Americans currently covered through Obamacare won’t be able to afford any health insurance at all afterwards. With income based subsidies replaced by flat age-based tax credits, poorer, older, sicker Americans are out of luck and money.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Removing the individual mandate will cause health insurance costs to go up for almost everyone, especially the old and the sick.
Removing the employer mandate means employers will be be free not to offer health insurance to employees.
Removing restrictions for charging more for older Americans will mean up to 60 million individuals aged 50-64 will be faced with large increases in premiums.
Replacing actual Medicaid expenditure by states to a fixed reimbursement per recipient will eventually cause states to cut services.
Finally, true to the Republican playbook, eliminating taxes on the wealthy (including insurance company executives) to pay for the ACA, while at the same time drastically reducing subsidies for the poor is a massive reverse Robin Hood wealth transfer from the poor to the rich.