TrumpCare's proposed damage to Buckeye State grows

With the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimating that 24 million fewer Americans would be able to access healthcare over a decade should TrumpCare be enacted, Ohio House Democratic lawmakers today spoke out against the GOP’s effort to decimate the Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama. 

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not assured to every American if we can’t see a doctor when we’re sick, or if money decides whether or not we receive lifesaving care,” said Minority Leader Fred Strahorn (D-Dayton). “TrumpCare would pull the rug out from under the feet of millions of Americans – including nearly one million Ohioans – who have healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act. More adults will die prematurely and more children will suffer.” 

The CBO estimated that TrumpCare would lead to 14 million more people being uninsured in 2018 alone. 

“There is a reason doctors, hospitals and patients all oppose TrumpCare – it will prevent Americans from accessing the healthcare they need, when they need it, without going bankrupt,” said Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron). “If Ohio is on the ‘verge of recession’ as Governor Kasich has indicated, going down this path will send us into a full on economic tailspin.” 

Earlier analysis by the Center for Community Solutions, a nonpartisan policy think tank, concluded that Ohio would lose some $19 billion to $26 billion in healthcare funding for Medicaid over the next six years under the GOP’s healthcare. Cuts built in to the bill would likely result in reduced eligibility, reduced healthcare services and reduced care payments to providers within Ohio’s Medicaid system, impacting about 1 in 4 Ohioans.  

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American College of Physicians (ACP) all oppose TrumpCare.