Statement from the NC Justice Center: As ill-conceived health care repeal plans sputter, Congress must move on

RALEIGH (July 18, 2017) — Less than 24 hours after Republican leadership failed to procure enough Senate votes to move the BCRA forward, it appears that a hasty, ill-conceived plan to partially repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement is also dead on arrival. Three Republican Senators have already indicated that they will oppose the motion to proceed.

This is not only a victory for the millions of Americans that have benefited from the ACA but also makes abundantly clear that it’s time for lawmakers to move on from repeal. Instead, they should be working toward stabilizing markets and improving insurance affordability, accessibility, and comprehensiveness.

President Trump has said he will let the ACA fail. But he forgets that his administration has responsibility to not only ensure the well-being of all Americans but also to refrain from sabotaging the markets. His threat of nonpayment of cost sharing reductions to insurers is already going to raise preminums for North Carolinians. Despite his claims, the marketplace and the ACA are not failing; on the contrary, independent analysis and comments from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina show that the markets are stabilizing.

If the past six months have taught us anything it is that the fight for health care isn’t over, and that future means of dismantling the ACA may prove to be far more reckless than anyone could believe. The current administration will surely continue its attempts to unravel the ACA administratively and reinforce attacks on Medicaid and Medicare.

Rather than repealing the Affordable Care Act, Congress should build upon the law’s accomplishments and find bipartisan ways to improve our health care system to be more equitable, efficient, and accessible for all.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Brendan Riley, brendan@ncjustice.org, 919.861.2074; Julia Hawes, julia@ncjustice.org.