Local politicians oppose Senate health care proposal

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley spoke out on Tuesday about their opposition to the proposed U.S. Senate health care bill, claiming it will have a “damaging impact” on the Miami Valley.

Whaley and Foley, both Democrats, joined Dayton Indivisible for All on Tuesday morning for a press conference, and said the cuts to Medicaid contained in the current version of the proposed health care bill would be “disastrous to local and statewide efforts to fight the opiod epidemic.”

The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 could result in loss of coverage for close to 539,700 Ohioans, including 360,000 Ohio residents currently on Medicaid, Whaley and Foley claimed. The local leaders urged Sen. Rob Portman to vote no on the bill.

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“We know that this health care bill raises premiums and health care costs while cutting basic benefits and reducing access to coverage,” said Melissa Rodriguez, a main organizer for DIFA. “We are grateful that our local leaders are voicing their opposition to this bill. Now we need Sen. Portman to join them and vote no when this health care bill comes to a vote.”

In a conference call with reporters last week, Portman, R-Ohio, objected to plans by Senate Republican leaders to gain approval for a health-care bill before the July 4 holidays, saying instead “we need to get it right.”

Portman has backed an overhaul of the 2010 health law known as Obamacare, but said he fears “if we try to squeeze it in a short period of time we won’t get it right and we have to get it right.”

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A Congressional Budget office analysis shows the Senate bill would cut federal deficits by $202 billion more over the coming decade than the version the House approved in May. Senate leaders could use some of those additional savings to attract moderate votes by making Medicaid and other provisions more generous, though conservatives would rather use that money to reduce red ink.

The Senate plan would end the tax penalty that law imposes on people who don’t buy insurance, in effect erasing Obama’s so-called individual mandate, and on larger businesses that don’t offer coverage to workers.

It would let states to ease Obama’s requirements that insurers cover certain specified services like substance abuse treatments, and eliminate $700 billion worth of taxes over a decade, the CBO said, largely on wealthier people and medical companies that Obama’s law used to expand coverage.

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It would cut Medicaid, which provides health insurance to over 70 million poor and disabled people, by $772 billion through 2026 by capping its overall spending and phasing out Obama’s expansion of the program. Of the 22 million people losing health coverage, 15 million would be Medicaid recipients.

“Right now, we have a huge challenge in front of us,” Whaley said. “We need to call this bill like it is. We’re telling people if you’re sick, suffering and dying, go fend for yourself because we’re eliminating your access to health care — all in the middle of a heroin epidemic, in the middle of this state of emergency. In a time where the morgues are filled … we’re talking about denying people the help they so desperately need.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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