At Full Committee ACA Hearing, Committee Democrats Defend Families' Rights and Protections, Release New Report on How Repeal Threatens Working Families

Statement

Today, the Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on health care, and how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has provided quality, affordable health care coverage. At the hearing, Committee Democrats unveiled a new report entitled, Accessible, Affordable Health Care -- A Right, Not A Privilege: How Repeal of the Affordable Care Act Threatens the Health and Economic Security of Working Families.

"If my Republican colleagues continue on the course to repeal, we know that 30 million Americans will lose coverage, with the vast majority of those millions in working families," said Ranking Member Bobby Scott. "Workers with job-based plans could lose out on the ACA's consumer protections -- such as prohibitions on annual and lifetime limits. They could lose out on access to free preventive services which keeps the American workforce healthier and on the job. These are meaningful protections that have improved the lives of people in this country -- protections that the Republicans are threatening to take away. And the collateral damage won't stop there. Unfortunately, this hearing was part of a larger agenda to repeal the Affordable Care Act, root and branch, despite the fact that there is no credible plan to deal with the chaos that repeal will create."

The report released today highlights ten of the most important ways the ACA has improved the lives of hardworking Americans and their families. The report also illustrates why efforts to repeal the ACA are dangerous for working people.

"We are here to strengthen the economic security of Americans and to protect the health of this country," Scott continued. "There is more that we need to do to improve access and affordability in health coverage, but setting the stage for a repeal vote that will take benefits away from hardworking Americans is irresponsible. That's why the Democratic staff of the Committee released a report that highlights all of the ACA's benefits to the American people, particularly those with job-based health coverage, and why repeal is so dangerous for our country and families' health and economic security."

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