National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Urges Congress to Protect Our Health Care

Earlier this week, House Republicans released the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a proposal to repeal and supposedly replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Despite multiple claims from Republican members of Congress and President Trump that they would lower costs and provide health care access for all Americans, the AHCA does exactly the opposite. The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans opposes the American Health Care Act because of the harm it would inflict on Americans, including the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community.

We are especially concerned about the following aspects of the bill:

• Two million AANHPIs who have gained coverage because of the ACA’s tax credits, Medicaid expansion, and other provisions are at risk of losing coverage under the AHCA.

• Health care coverage would be more expensive because of reductions in tax credits and the repeal of ACA cost-sharing subsidies by 2020.

• Millions of low-income Americans would have reduced benefits or lose coverage because of drastic changes and major reductions in funding for the Medicaid program by 2020 that would end coverage for low-income adults and cap the amount of money that states receive from the federal government.

• Millions of Americans receiving substance abuse and mental health services through the ACA’s Medicaid expansion also could lose their treatment because of the AHCA’s proposed changes to Medicaid.

• Millions of women would lose access to reproductive health care and services because of the elimination of the ACA’s contraceptive coverage benefit and the repeal of funding for Planned Parenthood, which is the nation’s largest family planning provider.

• Some groups of immigrants who are lawfully present would lose their access to coverage because of new restrictions on ACA tax credits, including Compact of Free Association (COFA) communities.

• Important research and community-based public health initiatives to eliminate health disparities would be slashed by the elimination of the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

The American Health Care Act will raise premiums and costs, provide fewer benefits, and lead millions of Americans to lose their coverage. This is an unacceptable replacement for the Affordable Care Act and we urge Congress to reject it.

READ MORE:

Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF): House ACA Replacement Plan is Not a Real Replacement

Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO): AAPCHO Responds to House ACA Repeal Proposal

APIAHF submitted the following testimony to the Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means Committees:

• Written Statement for the Record for the Hearing Entitled "Markup: Budget Reconciliation Recommendations to Repeal and Replace Obamacare”

• Written Statement for the Record for the Hearing Entitled: "Markup of Committee Print, Budget Reconciliation Legislative Recommendations and H. Res 154"

Take action by telling Congress to protect our care and by sharing this infographic on the dangers of ACA repeal.

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Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a coalition of 34 national Asian Pacific American organizations that serves to represent the interests of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities and to provide a national voice for our communities’ concerns. Our communities are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, currently making up approximately six percent of the population.