Published: May 25, 2017

When U.S. House of Representatives, led by Congressman Greg Walden, passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), they voted to gut Medicaid and rip healthcare from 23 million Americans, while the rich and powerful get a massive tax break.

Oregonians deserve to know the cost of the AHCA:

  • The CBO score of the bill released today shows the latest version of the AHCA cuts medicaid as deeply as the previous version of the bill. The Oregon Health Authority’s analysis of the previous CBO score found that 465,000 Oregonians would lose health insurance, including 375,000 Medicaid recipients. (Source)
  • 1.7 million non-elderly Oregonians have pre-existing conditions, and they would be put at risk by the AHCA, which creates incentives for states to reverse the ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. (Source)
  • The AHCA would result in about 66,000 fewer jobs in Oregon by 2022. (Source)

Oregonians speak out against the AHCA:

“As a personal support worker for a person with disabilities I see everyday the way that Medicaid helps people in Oregon. This bill will hurt our most vulnerable citizens, and it could cost me my job.” – Rebecca Sandoval, Personal Support Worker, Medford

“I lost my health insurance when I was laid off in 2012, and I was able to get covered again through the ACA. Shortly thereafter I found out I had cancer. The ACA saved my life. If it wasn’t for the coverage I received through the ACA I wouldn’t be here today to decorate the cake at my daughter’s wedding or see the birth of my grandchildren. It’s devastating to think that Greg Walden and Trump would kick 24 million Americans off healthcare to pay for tax cuts to the rich and powerful.” – Maleta Christian, Personal Support Worker, Myrtle Creek

“As a young, single mother my family and I often went without health insurance because it was unaffordable and we did not qualify for assistance. Accessing health insurance through my job at Kaiser was really life changing. Now as a front line health care worker I see the difference that Medicaid expansion has made for low income patients. It is unconscionable to think that the GOP health plan would cut as many as 23 million Americans off of their health insurance.” – Olivia Devers, CAN, Kaiser Permanente, Sunnyside

“Cuts to Medicaid would devastate Oregon’s most vulnerable communities. The Medicaid cuts in the AHCA are the single biggest threat to a system of in-home care and personal support that helps tens of thousands of Oregon’s seniors and people with disabilities live full and independent lives. To lose that would be unthinkable.” – Brian Rudiger, Executive Director of SEIU Local 503.