WASHINGTON, DC, May 4, 2017—Today, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed the hastily concocted Trumpcare, the so-called American Health Care Act (AHCA), which seeks to repeal the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA). If enacted, the bill could eliminate quality affordable health care for millions of people. In addition to today’s House vote to repeal the ACA, yesterday, the Department of Justice pursued a court order to suspend ACA section 1557 nondiscrimination protections. The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund (The Task Force) is joining lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) advocates in urging  the U.S. Senate to reject Trumpcare.

“Trumpcare poses a catastrophic threat to people all across the country. Members of Congress were so hell bent on pushing this bill forward that it hasn’t even been scored yet by the Congressional Budget Office. That means we don’t actually know how many people this bill will impact or the cost implications for tax payers. Yet while we don’t know all of Trumpcare’s harmful consequences we do know it will disproportionately affect LGBTQ people, who are twice as likely to be uninsured as non-LGBTQ people. It will also take away health care from millions of people, gut Medicaid funding, and end Medicaid expansions, affecting 11 million families, children, people with disabilities, low-income people, and seniors. It will also undermine protections for people living with HIV or other chronic conditions and raise health care costs by thousands of dollars for millions of people all while giving millionaires an average annual tax cut of $50,000; deny access to affordable  contraception and other forms of preventative care; and end insurance companies’ lifetime cap on coverage benefits; and restricts federal funding for Planned Parenthood, putting care for 2.5 million patients nationwide at risk,” said Rea Carey, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund.

“We urge everyone to continue the resistance against this repeal effort and stand alongside so many who oppose what the Republican-led Congress is doing. There are a lot of reasons why we oppose this bill. It is worth noting that Trumpcare is so bad that members of Congress are exempting themselves from it,” said Carey.

The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund is mobilizing its 200,000 members to call on U.S. Senators to vote against Trumpcare. For decades, The Task Force has worked to increase funding for and awareness of HIV and LGBTQ health care issues, including taking part in public education campaigns such as Bisexual Health Awareness Month and the publication  of the Queering Reproductive Justice Toolkit. During the Obama Administration, the organization partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to increase access to affordable healthcare among LGBTQ people. Last week, the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund co-sponsored and presented at “SYNChronicity 2017: The National Conference for HIV, HCV, and LGBT Health.”

–30–  

CONTACT:
Jorge Amaro
Media and Public Relations Director
213-842-7564
jamaro@thetaskforce.org