WASHINGTON, D.C. – As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Al Franken (D-MN) sent a letter to President Trump calling on him to change course and avoid further harm to Americans who depend on the financial assistance provided under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by protecting the cost-sharing subsidies that help lower out-of-pocket health care costs for working families.
“You and Congressional Republicans have made dismantling these significant reforms your top priority – without providing any coherent plan to protect the millions of Americans who depend upon them,” the Senators wrote to President Trump. “We continue to stand ready to work on improvements to the law, but are fundamentally opposed to this destructive course and rush to repeal that is, as we speak, already beginning to undermine the coverage that families have today. But, while Congress debates the path forward, your administration can still take steps to change course and avoid further harm to Americans who depend on these coverage reforms.”
More than 6 million Americans enrolled in health coverage under the ACA are receiving cost-sharing subsidies to help reduce their out of pocket costs and deductibles. A lawsuit advanced by Congressional Republicans, House v. Burwell, seeks to stop ACA cost-sharing reductions and raise out of pocket costs for families. President Trump could take action to halt these subsidy payments, which would force families to lose critical financial assistance and create instability for insurers that could result in plan cancellations. More than 120,000 Wisconsinites currently rely on this assistance to keep their deductibles low and help them afford critical health services.
“You said recently that your plan is to provide “insurance for everybody,” the Senators continued. “Dismantling measures to make health care more affordable for families would stand in direct conflict to this promise – resulting in chaos in the market from the Trump Administrations’ actions. We urge that you put partisanship aside and commit to continue this vital financial assistance for our constituents and protect all of the health benefits that our families rely on today.
A copy of the letter the senators sent is available here.
An online version of this release is available here.
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