Following the disastrous Affordable Care Act repeal put forward in June, Sen. Mitch McConnell and his exclusively-male team spent weeks making secret edits to their legislation facing pressure from constituents and lack of support from his own party. A bill that was already horrendous for people with a uterus, people without, people with pre-existing conditions, young people, old people, anyone with Medicaid—has become even worse. With this latest version of Trumpcare, Americans will pay significantly more and get less. If the first version was called the worst bill for women in a generation, what do we call this one?
What Does Trumpcare 2.0 Do?
For starters, the bill slashes funding for Medicaid, taking away health care coverage for 22 million people. It also makes huge cuts in maternity care coverage, striping 13 million women of their coverage.
It still includes the “defund” Planned Parenthood Provision, blocking access for people with Medicaid by refusing federal reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for their services. In Minnesota, 38% of Planned Parenthood Patients use Medicaid to access healthcare at Planned Parenthood. If the bill passes, nearly 24,000 people will not be able to continue to get the care they currently get at our clinics as Medicaid insurance could no longer be used at Planned Parenthood. This means more undetected cancers and unintended pregnancies. Republicans claim that other clinics could pick up the slack but it just isn’t true—Planned Parenthood is irreplaceable.
On top of this, the new Cruz Amendment would allow insurance companies to sell inadequate plans that don’t comply with standards set by the Affordable Care Act, as long as they offer at least one plan that does. So for someone who is sick, has been sick, or has a pre-existing condition, which can include having a baby, their health insurance won’t simply be expensive, it won’t be in their reach and the premiums could escalate even further. Women are especially effected by this as insurance companies would once again be able to charge copays for birth control, immunizations and cancer screenings.
Furthermore, the bill imposes a nationwide ban on private insurance coverage of abortion. This restricts access to abortions even further and is an attack on a women’s autonomy in making her own decision on when and if they want to start a family. Without Planned Parenthood services the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions would increase by 15%. Placing bans limiting access will only decrease the amount of safe abortions, putting more women at risk.
Take Action
Ready to join the 80% of Americans who oppose this bill and reject the efforts to block millions of patients from care by Planned Parenthood? Take action now. Because all people deserve to have power over their own bodies. All people deserve health care without discrimination based on their gender, age, race, class, or pre-existing condition. And because no politician should be able to take away any person’s right to health care.
Tags: minnesota