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Statement of ACAP on the Meadows-MacArthur Amendment to the American Health Care Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 27, 2017
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jeff Van Ness, (202) 204-7515
STATEMENT OF ACAP ON THE MEADOWS-MACARTHUR AMENDMENT TO AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ACT
WASHINGTON—Margaret A. Murray, CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), made the following statement on the Meadows-MacArthur amendment to the American Health Care Act:
“The Meadows-MacArthur amendment does not alter ACAP’s unqualified opposition to the American Health Care Act. We call on all members of the House to move past the AHCA toward making bipartisan improvements to today’s health care system.
“This revived effort to pass a fundamentally flawed bill does not address the basic threat that the American Health Care Act poses to the health coverage of millions of Americans. Over the next ten years, the bill would cut funding for Medicaid by more than $800 billion and phase out the enhanced Federal funding match for the Medicaid expansion.
“This would degrade access to services for the 70 million-plus people who rely on Medicaid for effective health coverage. This, combined with changes in Marketplace-based coverage would result in the loss of health coverage for up to 24 million Americans, according to the most recent estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
“Given the scope of both the underlying bill and the amendment, the CBO should rescore this bill before it goes to a vote, such that lawmakers and the public alike have trusted, nonpartisan information on which to inform their judgments about this bill.”
“ACAP remains willing to engage in productive, bipartisan conversations around reforming the health care system. We urge Members of Congress who want to work to improve the health care system to engage with stakeholders in a more productive approach than this bill would represent, and are ready to work with them to achieve this goal.”
About ACAP
ACAP represents 60 nonprofit Safety Net Health Plans in 29 states, which collectively serve more nearly seventeen million people enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and other public health programs. For more information, visit www.communityplans.net.
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