WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a statement on the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) updated cost estimate of the Republican health care plan:
“President Trump made three very clear promises that under a Republican bill no one would lose coverage, premiums wouldn’t rise, and Americans with pre-existing conditions wouldn’t lose protections. Today’s CBO score confirms again that the Republicans’ TrumpCare bill breaks those promises. Twenty-three million Americans would lose their health insurance by 2026, 14 million fewer people would have Medicaid coverage, and markets would become unstable for one-sixth of the population by 2020. These aren’t just numbers; this bill would cause families in Virginia to lose health insurance. This comes one day after we saw President Trump break his promise not to cut Medicaid by proposing a budget that would slash this critical program, which provides health care for more than one million Virginians, including nearly 600,000 kids. We have to hold President Trump to his promises or Virginians will be stuck with the painful consequences. I hope my Republican colleagues in the Senate will drop their backroom efforts to pass a bill without input from patients and providers, and instead bring Democrats to the table so we can make bipartisan improvements to the nation’s health care system.”
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