Schumer Statement on the GOP’s Latest Version of Trumpcare
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today released the statement below in regard to the latest version of Trumpcare:
“Tens of millions of Americans every year experience a gap in health care coverage through no fault of their own, whether it be through things like job loss or temporary financial problems. The Senate Republicans’ latest version of Trumpcare would pour salt in that wound, locking American families out of health insurance for even longer thanks to this six month ban provision. It’s the epitome of ‘mean’ to say that those without health insurance for several months have to wait even longer to get it.
“Being denied critical and potentially life-saving health care for six months is not a fair punishment for someone who is a few hundred dollars short on insurance payments because they lost their job and finances are unexpectedly tight.
“The way to pass a bill is not to take a bad bill and make it worse. Republicans should abandon their partisan proposal and sit down with Democrats to improve our health care system, instead of sabotaging it.”
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
- 27.4 million non-elderly adults nationally had a gap in coverage of at least several months in 2015.
- This includes 6.3 million people (or 23% of everyone with at least a several-month gap) who have a pre-existing condition that would have led to a denial of insurance in the pre-ACA individual market.
- Among the 21.1 million people who experienced a gap in coverage and did not have a declinable pre-existing condition, some also had pre-existing conditions (such as asthma, depression, or hypertension) that still require ongoing medical care.
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