Letter to Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, Orrin Hatch, Senate Finance Committee Chairman, and Lamar Alexander, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman - Trumpcare Process Must Equal the Affordable Care Act's

Letter

Dear Leader McConnell, Chairman Hatch, and Chairman Alexander:

In light of your continued desire to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), we wanted to remind you of the extensive and open debate the Senate conducted in drafting and passing the ACA in 2009. Because the ACA touches the lives of millions of American families and those in the medical community, we expect that you will follow a similarly transparent and deliberative process on any legislation that would repeal, replace or amend the law.

As a reminder, in 2009, the HELP Committee held 14 bipartisan roundtables, 13 bipartisan hearings, and 20 bipartisan walkthroughs on health reform. The HELP Committee then considered nearly 300 amendments and accepted more than 160 Republican amendments during the debate on the bill.

Additionally, the Finance Committee held 17 roundtables, summits, and hearings on the topic. The committee also held 13 member meetings and walkthroughs and 38 meetings and negotiations for a total of 53 meetings on health reform. The debate in the Finance Committee concluded with a seven-day markup -- the longest such markup in over two decades. During this process, the Finance Committee adopted 11 Republican amendments.

Furthermore, when the bill came to the floor, the Senate spent 25 consecutive days in session on health reform, the second longest consecutive session in history. In total, the Senate spent more than 160 hours considering the health reform legislation.

By comparison, in 2017 the Republican-majority Senate has rushed through an unprecedented budget resolution that did not even go through the Budget Committee in order to set the stage for a reckless ACA repeal reconciliation bill and has had zero hearings on a replacement plan.

The health care sector represents approximately one-sixth of the U.S. economy, but more importantly, millions of people rely on the coverage and insurance protections from the ACA. For many of our constituents, this is a matter of life and death that should not be rushed. With so much at stake, the American people deserve an equally open and thorough debate on the future of the health care sector as occurred in 2009.

Sincerely,