Immoral Monstrosity

Crafted in complete secret for weeks, Senate Republicans’ version of the House’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) was finally revealed to the full Senate — and more importantly, the public — on Thursday. The plan of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had been to have a vote by the end of next week, limiting time for debate in the Senate and feedback from the public. That’s now pushed to next week.

The Senate draft bill — called the Better Care Reconciliation Act — remains largely similar to the wildly unpopular House bill but adds significantly deeper cuts to Medicaid, further harming low-income families and American with disabilities. The draft bill does not show any semblance of human decency let alone the “heart” President Trump claimed to hope for. In fact, Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden called the bill an “immoral monstrosity.”

Not convinced? This week, the Center for American Progress released state-by-state estimates of the additional deaths that could result due to coverage reductions under the bill, along with analysis showing how a slush fund for opioid addiction treatment cannot substitute for Medicaid and other comprehensive coverage.