The Senate Republicans' decision to rehash the Obamacare fight in the context of their already controversial tax cuts bill means one thing. The fight is on.
Within moments of the announcement that repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, the major provider, insurance, and hospital groups came out strong in opposition.
"As providers of healthcare and coverage to hundreds of millions of Americans, we are committed to assuring everyone has access to a range of high quality, affordable coverage options so they can access the care they need, regardless of pre-existing conditions," said the letter from the health industry groups.
"To achieve this critical goal, we are urging you to maintain the individual mandate unless and until Congress can enact a package of reforms to adequately assure a balanced risk pool and prevent extraordinary premium increases."
The groups signing the letter are the heavy hitters in the industry: America's Insurance Health Plans, the BlueCross Blue Shield Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals. They have been joined by one of the biggest and most powerful consumer advocacy groups, the AARP which tweets:
Repealing the individual mandate will leave millions uninsured, destabilize the health insurance market, and lead to spikes in the cost of premiums.
Not only is this bad health policy, it does not belong in as an isolated provision in an unrelated #TaxReform bill.
AARP had already raised the alarm about the Congressional Budget Office's analysis showing that the bill would force $25 billion in Medicare cuts in 2018. They promise "we will fight to protect the benefits Americans have earned through a lifetime of hard work." And they've got their members out in force on Capitol Hill today to send that message.
The giant is wide awake. We've beaten this thing three times already. We will do it again.
The Republican tax giveaway to the super wealthy is an attack on our health care, an attack as dangerous as Trumpcare was. Please, call your member of the House of Representatives and your senators at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to vote "no" on the Republican tax bill.