Durbin: Repealing Affordable Care Act Would Disrupt Lives of Millions
Press Release
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with doctors and health care experts to discuss the local impact of congressional Republicans plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) -- without replacing the law -- in early January. Repealing the ACA will threaten health care for all Americans, drive up costs, and let insurance companies place arbitrary limits on benefits and deny coverage for pre-existing conditions or gender. More than one million people in Illinois would lose their health insurance in 2019 if the ACA is repealed, including 470,000 newly eligible or enrolled in Medicaid.
"When congress passed the ACA in 2010, health care costs were skyrocketing and health insurance companies were not being held accountable for their unfair practices. The law addressed some of the most glaring gaps in America's health care system and now, thanks to the ACA, the uninsured rate in Illinois has fallen by 49 percent," Durbin said. "ACA is not perfect -- no law is. But instead of working together on improvements, Republicans have instead voted over 60 times to outright repeal the law -- without offering any ideas for how to replace it. Repealing our law -- throwing our health care system, providers, and patients into chaos -- is dangerous and will immediately disrupt the lives of millions. I will fight in Washington to protect the gains we have made under the ACA, and continue to support patients in need and the programs that serve them."
Republican leaders in Congress plan to move quickly next year to repeal the ACA without enacting a replacement plan to prevent a disruption of the U.S. healthcare system or to protect the millions of Americans who depend upon the law for their medical care. This approach could result in nearly 30 million Americans losing their health insurance, doubling the number of uninsured (from 29 million to 59 million) to a level even higher than before the law was passed.
This week, Durbin is sending letters to seven Illinois provider and patient associations, asking them to measure the impact that repealing the ACA without any replacement would have on hospitals and patients in Illinois.
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