FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2017

CONTACT
Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149, gastelum@nilc-ijf.org
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279, burgess@nilc-ijf.org

WASHINGTON — The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Monday said that 22 million Americans would lose their health insurance under a new legislative proposal by U.S. Senate Republicans, which aims to repeal key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid.

The Senate bill includes provisions that would take away some immigrants’ access to health programs, going even further than its severely unpopular counterpart in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill’s authors would eliminate the ability of some immigrants currently covered by ACA plans to purchase health insurance, since the Senate bill would make them unable to buy a plan on the health insurance marketplaces and would exclude them from crucial financial assistance.

Matthew Lopas, health policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center Immigrant Justice Fund, issued the following statement:

“Republican senators devised this heartless health bill under a cloak of secrecy to avoid scrutiny. Now, the CBO has exposed it for what it is: a disastrous plan that would kick millions of people off insurance and make our communities less healthy, all so the rich can get a tax break.

“This proposal is bad for all of us, and it would hit immigrants and those struggling to make ends meet especially hard. To support it means to accept that many more kids and families will have to go without seeing a doctor when they get sick, forcing them into costly emergency services as a last resort. It means deciding to look the other way instead of doing something to help people who will die from treatable illnesses because they don’t have enough money. We urge all leaders in Congress to reject this shameful proposal.”

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