The Republican “repeal and replace” legislation, known as the American Health Care Act, will not represent an improvement for the vast majority of your constituents.
According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, a 60-year-old adult earning $50,000 per year who purchases health insurance in Durango may see a net cost increase of up to $10,000 under the AHCA.
This would reflect changes in premium rating and less generous age-related tax credits under the AHCA, in place of current income-related premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).
A health insurance cost increase equal to 20% of income would not be affordable, leading such an individual to become uninsured due to the AHCA.
For reasons like this, and due to a $880 billion cutback in federal funding for Medicaid, up to 47,000 of 3rd District constituents could lose health insurance or Medicaid coverage under the AHCA, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress.
The only clear winners under the AHCA will be those earning over $200,000, who would benefit from tax cuts paid for by the loss of coverage among their lower-income neighbors.
The AHCA will rob the poor of health to financially benefit the wealthy. I submit that a vote in favor of the AHCA was not in the best interests of the vast majority of your constituents, some of whom may pay with their lives.
Douglas McCarthy
Durango
