Legislation under consideration in the Senate would throw at least 17 million people off health insurance
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today slammed Republicans’ ongoing billionaire tax heist, which is funded by cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and would result in 17 million people losing their health insurance by 2034, including at least 47,000 Rhode Islanders.
“Republicans’ Beautiful-for-Billionaires Bill will cut almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid and raise health insurance costs out of reach for more people, all to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires who already have more money than they know what to do with,” said Whitehouse, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid. “When people don’t have health insurance, they get sicker and hospitals get drained financially. This bill will put serious pressure on Rhode Island’s health care system, and I’m doing everything in my power to fight it.”
Based on the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s analysis, 47,359 Rhode Islanders would lose their health insurance under the current Senate bill. A pending amendment to the legislation led by Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) would effectively end Medicaid expansion in nine states that have automatic “trigger laws” to immediately terminate the states’ participation in the program if the federal matching percentage is reduced. If Rhode Island, which would not immediately be subject to the Scott amendment, eventually ended its participation in Medicaid expansion due to the lower federal match, the analysis predicts that a total of 97,472 Rhode Islanders could lose health insurance.
The full report can be found here.
