Your access to healthcare is at risk. The Senate is currently considering another bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sponsored by Sens. Cassidy and Graham. Congress only has until September 30th to act on this measure. We must work together to defeat this bill.
Why should you take action? The Graham-Cassidy legislation would harm our community by:
- Repealing the requirement that most employers offer insurance to their workers
- Allowing states to let insurers charge people higher premiums based on having a pre-existing conditions
- Allowing states to let insurers drop coverage for essential health benefits, like prescription drugs, hospitalization, or access to specialists
- Eliminating all federal funding for the ACA’s insurance marketplaces, including for subsidies and cost-sharing reductions for low-income people
- Eliminating federal funding for the Medicaid expansion, by capping federal funding for the traditional Medicaid program that covers children and people with disabilities and establishing a block grant to states with inadequate funding
Joint Statement by NHF, HFA, the Coalition for Hemophilia B and the Hemophilia Alliance Opposing the Bill
People with Hemophilia and Other Bleeding Disorders Urge their Senators to Reject Dangerous Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson Health Reform Legislation
The Senate is expected to consider the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson bill, a final partisan attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While some provisions differ from other ACA repeal proposals considered by Congress this year, it is the same in the most fundamental ways: the bill jeopardizes access to public and private insurance coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions and would be just as harmful as the earlier proposals defeated in the Senate. We are very concerned that people with chronic health conditions will either lose coverage entirely or pay more for inadequate coverage if they maintain it.
As a result of its damaging impact, The National Hemophilia Foundation, Hemophilia Federation of America, Coalition for Hemophilia B, and Hemophilia Alliance – which represent people with hemophilia, von Willebrand Disease, and other bleeding disorders and the hemophilia treatment centers (HTCs) that care for them – are united in their opposition to Graham-Cassidy-Heller- Johnson and urge the Senate to reject this harmful proposal. In particular, we are concerned that:
• Graham-Cassidy will jeopardize access to private insurance plans: The bill allows states to waive insurance rules to allow plans to charge people with pre-existing conditions and to change the essential health benefits (EHBs) requirements, which undermines the ban on lifetime and annual limits that applies only to EHBs. Patient protections are meaningless if insurance companies can charge individuals pre-existing conditions exorbitant rates and remove services for expensive conditions.
• Graham-Cassidy will also lead to significant coverage losses for individuals on Medicaid: The bill’s repeal of the Medicaid expansion and significant cuts to Medicaid financing will jeopardize coverage for the approximately 30% of the bleeding disorders community – thousands of individuals – who are insured by the program.
People with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders live with a painful, lifelong, chronic condition that requires expensive medication and specialized care provided by HTCs and other specialists. Without access to comprehensive insurance, our community members will suffer. The bleeding disorders community urges Senators to vote no on the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson legislation.
We know that we have called on you often in recent months, asking you to engage with your lawmakers and let them know what you need in healthcare reform. Your voices, and the voices of millions of other grassroots advocates around the country, have made the critical difference in the healthcare debate.
Approaching September 30th, we are now in the final stretch. Please phone, email, or tweet to your Senators today – it makes a difference!
