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Urge Congress to Vote “No” on American Health Care Act

Urge Congress to Vote No on the American Health Care Act.

The House of Representatives is planning to vote today on the American Health Care Act. The vote is expected to be very close. Late last night, the House added a change to the American Health Care Act that will repeal the essential health benefits (EHB). This will make a bad bill even worse.

As it is, the bill is dangerous to people with disabilities. It cuts $880 billion out of the Medicaid program and uses it to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, corporations, and providers. The March 20th Managers Amendment further weakens Medicaid by ending the Medicaid expansion earlier, offering Medicaid block grants to states, and imposing work requirements.

The latest move to ensure that health care plans do not cover these needed services is an attempt by the White House and the House Majority to gain the support of enough Representatives to pass the bill. There are some in Congress who believe these benefits are too generous and costly, and insurers should have the option to drop them.

The repeal of the essential health benefits also effectively removes the prohibition against annual and lifetime limits on health care coverage. 

Even worse, it will likely make it harder for people with pre-existing conditions to find health care plans that adequately meet their needs.

Here are the essential health benefits you stand to lose if this bill becomes law:

  • Doctor visits and other outpatient care
  • Emergency services
  • Hospitalization
  • Maternity and newborn care
  • Mental health and substance abuse disorder services including behavioral health treatment
  • Prescription drugs
  • Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices
  • Laboratory services
  • Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management
  • Pediatric services including oral and vision care

The essential health benefits were designed to ensure that health plans cover basic needs and they have been critically important to people with disabilities and chronic health conditions. From this list, habilitation and rehabilitative services and devices are particularly important. Habilitative services are health care services that help a person keep, learn or improve skills and functioning for daily living. This category includes physical, occupational, and speech therapy, as well as medical equipment such as wheelchairs.

Without a requirement that basic services be included in the health plans, insurers are likely to drop coverage of therapies or medications that would attract people with more health care needs. Even if people with pre-existing conditions can find adequate plans, it is very unlikely that they would be affordable. Most of the protections to ensure affordable health care are also repealed.

Urge the Members of the House of Representatives to oppose the American Health Care Act. It is a threat to the health of people with disabilities and chronic health conditions and it is a threat to our decades long, bipartisan work to secure community based services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.