San Francisco – Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Advancing Justice), an affiliation of five civil rights organizations, is disappointed by the U.S. House of Representatives’ 227-205 vote to pass H.R.1, “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”. This tax bill would massively cut programs like Medicaid and Medicare. As the bill moves to the Senate, whose own tax bill includes a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congress would deal a devastating blow to health care for millions of Americans, particularly communities of color.
Under the guise of tax reform and after repeated failed attempts at repealing the ACA, the GOP is now attempting to attack our health care system through the Senate tax bill, which makes it even worse than H.R. 1. The proposed tax bill comes dangerously close to eliminating critical health and safety net programs that millions of Americans rely on and puts the burden of tax reform on low- and middle- income people by benefiting the top 1% and wealthy corporations.
The Senate tax bill proposes to repeal the ACA’s individual mandate, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates would cause 13 million people to lose their health insurance, a 10% increase in insurance premiums, and five million fewer people to enroll in Medicaid. In addition, the tax bill includes the potential to slash Medicare by $473 billion, cut Medicaid by over $1 trillion, and increase the federal deficit to $1.5 trillion.
These cuts would directly impact many Americans, including over 850,000 Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) who have benefited from the ACA nationally. Prior to the ACA, about 20% of Asian Americans were uninsured, but after ACA implementation, the uninsured rate dropped dramatically to 8% in 2015.
The Senate finance committee is expected to finish the markup of their version of the tax bill by the end of this week with a push for a full Senate vote the week of Nov. 27th. Advancing Justice calls on the senators to stand up and oppose the tax bill in its current form. We also urge friends, family members, and other community members to call their senators to save health care by dialing (202) 224-3121.
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Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all. The affiliation’s members are: Advancing Justice | AAJC (Washington, DC), Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco), Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, Advancing Justice – Atlanta, and Advancing Justice – Chicago.