INDIANA BLACK LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS FORMALLY CONDEMNS
U.S. HOUSE REPEAL OF AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE
INDIANAPOLIS —— Members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus today condemned the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives for voting to deny millions of Hoosiers basic health care coverage, including affordable prescription drugs and protections against unreasonable premium increases.
“Today, the Republicans who run the U.S. House have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” said State Rep. Vanessa Summers (D-Indianapolis), chairwoman of the caucus. “This means they are more interested in protecting big insurance companies, rather than the millions of Hoosiers who will benefit from the provisions of this act.”
State Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-Indianapolis) added, “If this repeal is approved in the U.S. Senate—which thankfully looks very unlikely at this point in time—we would see a return to the days when children with pre-existing medical conditions would be denied coverage, when people who are sick would see coverage cancelled, and when the amount of care a person receives would be based on the arbitrary whims of insurance industry bean-counters, not doctors.”
Caucus members noted that the impact of repealing the Affordable Care Act would be felt across all segments of Indiana’s population:
- More than 21,000 young adults would lose their insurance coverage through their parents’ health plans. (The Act allows young adults to stay on their parents’ plans up to the age of 26 if they do not have coverage of their own.)
- More than 3.8 million Indiana residents with private insurance coverage would find themselves vulnerable again to having insurance companies place limits on how much will be spent on their health care.
- Nearly 280,000 Hoosiers again would be at risk of losing their insurance at the moment they are in an accident or fall sick, simply because of a mistake made on their application for coverage.
- More than 950,000 older Hoosiers who have Medicare coverage would be forced to pay extra for annual check-ups, and they would have to help pay for services like mammograms and colonoscopies.
- More than 66,000 Hoosiers on Medicare would lose the discounts they were set to receive for falling into the “donut hole” coverage gap, which means they would be paying significantly more on their prescription drugs.
“Beyond all of these things, repealing this act would prevent Indiana from getting the federal resources that would help us crack down on unreasonable insurance premium increases,” noted State Rep. Charlie Brown (D-Gary), ranking Democrat on the Indiana House Public Health Committee and a long-time advocate of universal health care.
“In addition, we wouldn’t be getting the federal funds needed to start health insurance exchanges to drive down costs and we wouldn’t have the support needed to start a consumer assistance program designed to protect all of us from the worst insurance industry practices,” Summers continued.
Pryor said, “Repealing this act will bring a return to the worst abuses that created our country’s health care crisis. We are hopeful that the U.S. Senate will do what’s right and stop this travesty by refusing to follow the House’s lead.”
If you have an opinion you would like to share about this issue or any other topics related to Indiana state government, you can contact Rep. Brown directly.
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