The House just passed its tax reform plan, H.R.1—Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act.
We need Congress to stand up for their constituents and oppose a tax reform bill that raises taxes on low
and middle income families and threatens our health care safety-net! Call (202) 224-3121 and tell your Representatives to OPPOSE
this bill right now!
Please also consider joining one of OFA Berkeley-Albany’s Phone Banks this weekend from 1:00-4:00pm on either Saturday, November 18th and Sunday, November 19th.
Alameda
County’s Fight
for Medi-Cal released the following statement in response to the
ongoing federal FY18 budget negotiations and tax reform debate.
Our health is our wealth. As Congress rushes to seal deals on the federal
budget and tax reform, we must insist they avoid false choices between health
programs worth “saving” and those not. The agencies and services that make up
our health care safety-net constitute an integrated whole reflective of our
communities’ values and commitments. When Congress pulls apart threads to make
short-term deals, they create gaps in the safety-net that undermine community
health and drive up costs in the long-term.
Right now, Congress is hurrying to pass tax reform legislation by
Thanksgiving. This creates fertile ground for devastating trade-offs – drastic
cuts to Medicaid and Medicare and an increase in the number of uninsured to pay
for tax cuts. The House’s
tax reform plan adds $1.5 trillion to the deficit to pay for tax
cuts targeted to the richest 1% and corporations. The latest
Senate tax plan would eliminate the individual mandate, a cornerstone of the
Affordable Care Act, leaving 13 million people uninsured.
Last week, the House passed the Championing
Healthy Kids Act to fund critical safety-net programs like
Community Health Centers (CHCs) and the Children’s Health Insurance Program
(CHIP) through offsets that would slash the Prevention and Public Health Fund
(PPHF). The price for this deal is too steep. Repurposing $6.35 billion from
PPHF would gut critical public health services such as immunizations and
chronic disease prevention. These services are essential to managing our timely
response to public health emergencies like the recent Hepatitis A outbreak in
California. Destabilizing public health to fund health care makes no sense. It
endangers lives and drives up costs.
After missing budget reauthorization deadlines, Congress is facing
pressure to fix “funding cliffs” for programs like CHCs and CHIP. Without
funding reauthorization, health centers in the Alameda Health Consortium
are facing a $19 million dollar loss that will leave 20,000 of our neighbors
without access to care and shut down six or more health center sites.
Our hospitals’ ability to keep our communities safe is also being
threatened. Budget hawks have set their sights on Disproportionate Share
Hospital (DSH) funding that covers the many remaining uninsured. DSH helps
hospitals, like those in the Alameda Health System (AHS), provide care to
uninsured patients which would otherwise be uncompensated—in 2017, AHS provided
$75 million in uncompensated care. The DSH payment reductions must be delayed,
as 3 million Californians still are currently without coverage, and AHS funding
for uncompensated care threatens to be cut by $11 million in the coming year.
Stealing from Peter to pay
Paul, not only makes for bad economics, it goes against the values that
underpin budgets. Americans value health care. National polls and three failed
attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act attest to this. As we find ourselves defending critical programs that
protect our communities and help them thrive, let’s not fall victim to false
choices. Let’s focus on defending our collective values to build and maintain a
quality health care system accessible to all.
The Fight for Medi-Cal Campaign is a regional campaign created by Alameda County Board President Wilma
Chan for Alameda County residents to share their stories, find resources, and
join together to send the message to Congress that Alameda County opposes cuts
or caps to Medicaid and repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
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