Nine Reasons Why Graham-Cassidy Would Harm Americans

The Graham-Cassidy repeal bill is Senate Republicans’ latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and it has the potential to disrupt the lives of millions of Granite Staters and Americans.

Here are just a few of the reasons why we can’t let it pass:

1) This bill ends Medicaid expansion, which experts have called the #1 tool at our disposal for combating the opioid crisis.

2) The proposed caps and cuts to Medicaid jeopardize community-based care programs for seniors and people who experience disabilities. These massive Medicaid cuts would also lead to funding cuts for school districts and students with disabilities.

3) This bill would cut hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding for New Hampshire in the next decade. This would impact some of our most vulnerable citizens such as children, pregnant women, seniors, and people who experience disabilities.

4) The Graham-Cassidy bill also undermines protections for people with preexisting conditions.

5) It would lead to higher out-of-pocket costs and take away premium assistance from millions of hard-working people.

6) It also allows insurers to hike premiums the moment someone gets sick — even if they’ve been healthy and paying for their insurance for years.

7) It guts the requirement that insurers must cover care for essential health benefits such as substance use disorder, mental health and maternity care.

8) Just like with prior versions of Tumpcare, the Graham-Cassidy bill targets women’s health and defunds Planned Parenthood.

9) This bill was introduced in the midst of bipartisan efforts to strengthen the individual insurance market and improve the Affordable Care Act. This bill risks completely undermining that work.

Bottom-line: The Graham-Cassidy bill is just as dangerous as the prior attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and we must do everything we can to stop it in its tracks.