Dear Health Advocates,
Early Saturday morning, the Senate voted to advance their version of the budget blueprint. The Senate's proposal varies from the House's and while it doesn't directly delineate a specific number of cuts for health care programs, we know Medicaid is still extremely vulnerable in any budget reconciliation package. Still, the budget debate revealed that Medicaid can be a major sticking point between the House and Senate. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) co-sponsored an amendment with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to strip House language affecting Medicaid from the resolution. That amendment failed by a vote of 49 to 50. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Jerry Moran (Kansas) and Susan Collins (Maine) voiced their own concerns about the Medicaid cuts proposed by the House.
Now, the House has one week before the next Congressional recess to pass the Senate blueprint, with Speaker Johnson looking to move quickly (voting as soon as tomorrow). With a 220-213 majority, the Speaker can lose only three Republicans on a party-line vote if all members are present and voting. If delayed beyond this week, Republicans will be at a crossroads — whether to make changes to the plan and send it back to the Senate (requiring another "vote-a-rama") or have both chambers will have to hammer out an agreement to move forward.
On the administrative front, Families USA is one of the organizations leading the effort to submit public comments on the recent ACA Marketplace proposed rule that would drive up costs for people in Marketplace plans, make it harder to enroll, take away rights to coverage for “dreamers," and prohibit states from requiring coverage of gender-affirming care. We have included four links below for you to submit comments on a wide variety of the impacts of this rule.
- Cost of Coverage
- Shorter Enrollment Periods
- Broker Fraud
- DACA
In order to submit an entirely anonymous comment, follow this link and select “Anonymous” on the right hand side. Once selected, you can use the text below to craft your comment and submit it by following website instructions.
I know [or am a] Deferred Action Childhood Arrival (DACA) – that is, someone who has been in this country since childhood and has been allowed to work here, but is not a citizen. People with DACA status should be allowed to buy marketplace coverage because Without coverage, I [or this person] went without needed health care. [Describe]
Without coverage, I [or this person] had medical expenses they couldn’t pay. [List some] Everyone needs coverage to protect them if they ever face illness or injury.
- Health Action Resource List
-
Families USA recently published our Health Action Resources List on our website, in which we compile resources from our partners for all of you to access in one place. You can find that page here.
|
