Fight for Our Health Coalition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 20, 2016

CONTACT:   Mike Roth, 916.444.7170; Maria Elena Jauregui, 818.355.5291 (Spanish-language)

Bakersfield, CA –  Today, Congressional Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)’s Central Valley District became Ground Zero in a massive effort to fight back against Trump and GOP proposals that would strip 30 million Americans of health care under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and create chaos in the health care system we all count on.

“As a constituent of Congressman McCarthy, I am here to tell him we can’t go back to being uninsured,” said Carmen Morales-Board, a nurse practitioner who has worked at Kern Medical for 24-1/2 years and is an active member of SEIU’s statewide Nurse Alliance. “It means that my patients will have to go without their prescriptions to give their kids lunch money.  Republicans promised to replace Obamacare, but they have no plan – meanwhile our patients’ lives are hanging in the balance.”

Over 100 of Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s constituents who stand to lose health coverage under a Trump Administration and GOP Congress rallied outside his office to deliver a “Prescription for a Healthy New Year” that includes strengthening the ACA to protect the five million Californians who have health coverage under the landmark health care law. Last month, McCarthy told reporters he supports repealing the ACA with no replacement plan in place for the millions who would lose coverage, breaking with years of GOP claims to “repeal AND replace” the ACA.

McCarthy’s district includes portions of Tulare and Kern counties, which have the greatest proportion of residents insured by Medi-Cal in the state. McCarthy’s leadership position and the striking number of his own constituents who would lose healthcare under President-elect Trump and GOP Congressional Republicans have made Bakersfield Ground Zero in the fight to protect healthcare for millions of Americans.

Over the last 8 years, California has done more to expand health care access, expanding care to more than five million people in our state. Now, the progress that we have made is at risk under a Trump administration and GOP Congress:

• Repeal of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion would eliminate coverage to over 3.5 million low-income Californians.
• Repealing Obamacare would also jeopardize the coverage of 1.4 million Californians who purchase insurance through Covered California and put millions in financial jeopardy.
• GOP proposals would spike the price of health premiums for individuals and businesses market-wide, and roll back prescription drug support for seniors. Across the nation, 30 million Americans would lose health care coverage.
• An ACA repeal would dismantle some of the nation’s strongest consumer protections to ensure timely access to medically necessary care, language assistance, and the promise of coverage even with a preexisting condition.
• A repeal would also eliminate the only viable pathway to coverage for young adults who have been historically uninsured at much higher rates than older Americans. Thanks to the ACA, the uninsured rate among young people has been cut in half; changes to the pivotal law would reverse this important progress for young people’s health and financial security.
• Speaker Paul Ryan’s broader plans for Medicaid would jeopardize care for 14 million Californians and unravel the safety net we all rely on in case of a job or income loss while giving subsidies and tax breaks to the wealthy, PhRMA and other profitable industries. Cuts of this magnitude would threaten the existence of safety net hospitals and health providers that serve all Californians.
• GOP proposals to “modernize Medicare” would break the promise of health care that generations of seniors have counted on, leaving tomorrow’s seniors at the mercy of health care corporations.

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The Fight for Our Health Coalition includes Health Access, SEIU California, SEIU Local 521, SEIU-UHW, SEIU Local 2015, UFW Foundation, Dolores Huerta Foundation, UDW/ AFSCME Local 3930, UWUA 246, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Project Inform, CIR/SEIU, California Alliance for Retired Americans, Community Health Initiative of Kern County, Faith in Action Kern County, California Partnership, Kern, Inyo, and Mono Counties Central Labor Council.