State Think Tanks: Healthcare Repeal And Replace Not A Good Plan (VIDEO)

The House is set to vote on the Obamacare replacement bill later today. But a series of sobering independent studies from think tanks across the country should give our Representatives pause before they cast their votes to make any changes to our healthcare.

The Illinois Health and Hospital Association, for instance, said that the GOP healthcare plan would cost the state $40 billion in federal funds over the next ten years.

The Oregon Health Authority and the state’s Department of Consumer and Business Services said that by 2026, the GOP’s healthcare bill could cause almost half a million Oregonians to lose their health insurance and cost the state 23,000 healthcare jobs. Governor Kate Brown (D), found that:

“For every step of progress that Oregon has made, this proposal will take Oregon three steps back. This bill is not about improving health care. It’s about giving tax cuts to the wealthy.”

Policy Matters Ohio estimated that 700,000 Ohio residents would lose healthcare coverage. The loss of coverage would disproportionately affect vulnerable workers in low-paying service industries.

“The people who would become uninsured, or find their coverage much more expensive, are from low-income families with workers in Ohio’s largest occupational groups, such as food service and table waiting, retail, home health, and cleaning and janitorial.”

The Colorado Health Institute also drafted a damning report, arguing that the Obamacare replacement would cause Colorado to lose $14 billion in federal funding over the coming decade. The cuts would translate to 600,000 people in Colorado losing Medicaid by 2030. According to CHI:

“…It’s unlikely that people who lose coverage would become insured in the private market.”

And the left-leaning New Jersey Policy Perspective said cuts in Medicaid expansion could cause up to half a million New Jersey residents to lose their healthcare by 2020.

These troubling analyses follow similar statements of condemnation from the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the American Hospital Association.

Despite the many critiques, President Donald Trump has praised the Obamacare replacement. And Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) – a principal architect of the bill – recently said he feels “very good” about the legislation.

Featured image via YouTube video.