Following is a letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan from Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. Questions she raises are reasonable and demand answers. With the GOP intent on railroading their replacement through the Congress and Senate calling your representatives and senators to express your concern might be something you want to consider.
March 7, 2017
The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House
H-232, United States Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Speaker Ryan,
This week, the Committees on Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means will be marking up Republicans’ long-feared bill to dismantle affordable health care. The GOP legislation will have life or death consequences for tens of millions of families across America, and extraordinary impacts on state and federal budgets long into the future.
The American people and Members have a right to know the full impact of this legislation before any vote in Committee or by the whole House.
Members must not be asked to vote on this legislation before the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation have answered the following questions about your legislation in 2018 and 2019, over the 10-year budget window, and in the decade after: How will this bill measure up to the Affordable Care Act and current Medicaid law on coverage, quality, and cost? And how will it impact Medicare solvency?
- Coverage – How many fewer Americans will have health insurance coverage compared to current law in Medicaid and the Marketplace? Also what happens to coverage among Americans with pre-existing conditions?
- Quality – What happens to the premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs, and average value of insurance plans for those with coverage in the Marketplace and those Americans with pre-existing conditions as a result of letting states define essential benefits and change ACA protections?
- Cost – How will the bill impact the federal deficit and the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund? What happens to state budgets after the loss of federal dollars from both the expansion of Medicaid under the ACA and from the GOP’s Medicaid per capita cap? What is the impact on hospitals and other providers due to the increase in uncompensated care? Given the loss of insurance coverage and change in taxes, how many dollars are transferred from low and middle-income families to high-income families as a result of the bill?
Mr. Speaker, as a former Chair of both the Committee on Ways and Means and the Budget, you understand the importance of having the numbers as well as anyone. These are critical questions and I hope that Republicans will honor their responsibility to the American people both before the Committees vote and before the final bill goes to the House floor.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
best regards,
NANCY PELOSI
Democratic Leader
