***NEWS RELEASE***
For Immediate Release
March 24, 2017
CONTACT:
Beth Harrison, Hamilton Strategies, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, or Deborah Hamilton, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, ext. 102
Take It or Leave It?
With Health Care Vote Set for Today, Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom Says Lawmakers Should Not Be Pushed into Voting for a Bad Bill
ST. PAUL, Minn.—The long-awaited vote on the American Health Care Act, a supposed repeal and replacement of Obamacare, is set for today, but Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org) notes the President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to push Republicans to vote yes.
Just this morning, Fox News reported that if today’s vote to dismantle Obamacare fails, President Trump said he is “done with health care” and will move on to tax reform.
Twila Brase is president and co-founder of CCHF, a national health freedom and patient advocacy organization that has long called for the full repeal of Obamacare.
“Anything is possible, but it’s unlikely that Republican leadership has enough votes to push through Paul Ryan’s American Health Care Act,” Brase said. “At a minimum, conservatives and resistant leaders from the Freedom Caucus want to repeal the law’s costly essential health benefits mandates, as well as strip out tens of thousands of pages of expensive regulations. Now, moderates have also come out against the bill.
“Regardless of what President Trump says about being ‘done with health care,’ Republicans must go back to the drawing board, this time with conservatives at the table,” said Brase. “If Republicans pass a bill that does not lower costs or restore access and choice, Americans will blame them for Obamacare 2.0.”
Brase says the negotiations and disagreements over language in the bill can be solved by a replay of Republicans’ 2015 repeal bill—preferably a “beefed up” version—or a full repeal of all 2,700 pages of the Affordable Care Act, which can be done in just 56 words.
“Americans asked for repeal,” Brase said. “Federal control and federal mandates made insurance unaffordable and took away their choices. They didn’t ask for a new version of federal control. After the flurry of last-minute changes, no one is exactly sure what’s in the bill now, but we know it still has many elements of Obamacare, such as mandates, penalties and subsidies. That’s not the repeal Americans asked for.”
Brase added that restoring affordability means Republicans must repeal the section of Obamacare that prohibits catastrophic coverage for anyone over the age of 29. This week, Brase also noted, marked the seventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, which made health insurance unaffordable, medical care less accessible, and consolidated the health care industry.
Brase recently returned from Washington, D.C., where she met with lawmakers about the GOP plan as well as other important health care issues. For the visit, CCHF prepared a document for members of Congress and the administration, outlining what the health freedom organization wants to see as health care reform moves forward. See the document here.
CCHF has launched The Wedge of Health Freedom (www.JointheWedge.com) to transform the entire health care system back to freedom and restore simplicity, affordability and confidentiality. Nearly 200 Wedge practices, where patients can find affordable, patient-centered care, are located in 44 states and listed online.
CCHF is a national patient-centered health freedom organization existing to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. For more information about CCHF, visit www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page or its Twitter feed @CCHFreedom. Also view the media page for CCHF here. For more about The Wedge of Health Freedom, visit www.JointheWedge.com, The Wedge Facebook page or follow The Wedge on Twitter @wedgeoffreedom.
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To interview CCHF’s Twila Brase, contact Beth Harrison at 610-584-1096 x104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com or Deborah Hamilton at 215-815-7716 or 610-584-1096 x102.