Congressmen Bacon, Fortenberry and Smith voted to take health care away from 24 million Americans and raise premiums for pre-existing conditions, all to pay for a $600 billion tax cut for the rich and a political talking point for their next campaign ads.
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“Nebraskans from all over the state called, told their personal stories, wrote letters and rallied to ask Reps. Bacon, Fortenberry and Smith to do their basic job—represent the people of our great state. Instead, all Members of Congress represented their party and the 1% that just got a big tax break handed to them for doing nothing. Individuals will die because of this vote. There is no other way to say it. As a woman with kids, I am now considered to have pre-existing condition for simply being a mom. Rep. Bacon is on track for a very short career in Congress.” Nebraska State Democratic Party Chair Kleeb said.
“I live in Rep. Bacon’s district. He just voted to leave me without life-saving insurance — especially given my so-called ‘pre-existing conditions’. My husband and I are young parents, stayed in Omaha to contribute to growing our state, and Rep. Bacon is literally putting my life at-risk with his politically motivated vote.” Bacon’s constituent Angie Norman said.
When Republicans couldn’t get enough votes from the most extreme right-wing of their party to pass this bill, they made it worse. Behind closed doors, Republicans amended the bill to:
· Allow insurance companies to charge Americans with pre-existing conditions more in out of pocket costs, for example:
o $4,340 / year for asthma
o $5,600 / year for diabetes
o $20,450 / year for drug treatment
o $17,320 / year for pregnancy
o $142,650 / year for cancer
· Let insurance companies limit payments for catastrophic illnesses, meaning Americans who have employer-based health plans would pay more out of pocket if they got sick;
· Gut $880 billion from Medicaid, hurting older Americans, people with special needs, and working families: and
· Defund Planned Parenthood.
If there’s any doubt to how bad this bill is, consider that Republicans in Congress exempted themselves, and then scheduled a vote on the final bill with no committee hearings, no markups, no amendments, no idea how much it will cost, and allotted only a couple of hours of debate on the House floor.
