“Today Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress confirmed their plans to end health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans nationwide, and Texans will be hit hard. Over one million Texans will lose their health care coverage outright, and Texas senior citizens will be forced to pay more for Medicare coverage and more for their prescription drugs.
“It’s gut check time, and it will take real courage to stop Trump and Republican leaders. So, don’t expect Ted Cruz, Pete Sessions, Will Hurd, John Culberson or other Texas Republicans to step up to defend Texas seniors. They are all on board with the plan and on record of supporting privatizing Medicare and putting insurance company profits ahead of basic healthcare for Texas seniors.”
Background:
The Repeal of the Affordable Care Act will cause over a million Texans to lose health care coverage: “Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released an extensive compilation of state-level data illustrating the substantial improvements in health care for all Americans over the last six years. The data show that the uninsured rate in Texas has fallen by 28 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in 2010, translating into 1,781,000 Texans gaining coverage.” [United States Department of Health and Human Services]
Repeal of the Affordable Care Act would increase premiums and bring back the ‘donut hole’ in persecution drug coverage: “Dismantling Obamacare would likely mean higher premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing for the 57 million senior citizens and disabled Americans enrolled in the program. It would also bring back the infamous “donut hole” in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage.” [CNN Money, 1/2/2017]
Ted Cruz supports moving Medicare to a voucher based “premium support system” [AARP 2012 Senate Voter Guide]
- A conservative organization’s president said the terms ‘premium support’ and vouchers could be used “interchangeably”: “Others counter that premium support and vouchers are the same thing. “I use the words interchangeably,” said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank in Dallas.” [Kaiser Health News, 4/4/2011]
Hurd, Sessions and Culberson all voted for th e FY2016 House budget which turns Medicare into a voucher system “Medicare would transition to a system where future seniors would be encouraged to use government-funded vouchers to purchase insurance in the private market.” [NY Times, 3/25/2015; H. Con Res. 27, Vote #142, 3/25/15]
