Rep. Meeks and NY Congressional Delegation Urge Trump to Consider Devastating Consequences of ACA Repeal on New York State

Rep. Meeks and NY Congressional Delegation Urge Trump to Consider Devastating Consequences of ACA Repeal on New York State

Washington, D.C.—Yesterday, Congressman Gregory W. Meeks and seventeen other members of the New York Congressional Delegation urged PEOTUS Trump to consider the severe consequences of repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If repealed, more than 2.7 million New Yorkers would lose health coverage and 131,000 would lose their jobs. Congressman Meeks issued the following statement after the letter was sent:

“Instead of working to responsibly tweak the acknowledged shortcomings of the ACA, the incoming president and congressional Republicans are content with repealing the ACA, thereby depriving more than 20 million Americans of healthcare. The consequences of this would be both profound and devastating for middle-class families in New York and elsewhere. In our state alone, 939,000 individuals gained health coverage thanks to the ACA.

“Repealing the ACA would put New York seniors in danger of paying nearly $1,200 more for prescription drugs. Medicaid recipients could lose out on expanded assistance. Those with pre-existing conditions would once again be scrambling to find an insurance company who would accept them. These are just some of the folks who have benefitted greatly from the ACA and are now at risk of having these very benefits stripped from them.”

“Together, with seventeen other members of the New York Congressional delegation, we stood up for these families and urged PEOTUS Trump to abandon his plan to repeal the ACA. I’ll continue to fight tooth and nail against any attempt to repeal the ACA.”

Text of letter and current list of cosigners below:

President-Elect Donald J. Trump
Trump Tower
725 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Dear President-Elect Trump,

We the undersigned Representatives from the State of New York, write to you today to convey the disastrous consequences repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would have on your home state. We implore you to consider both the economic and social impacts of repeal on the businesses and families of New York.

There is no doubt that repeal of the ACA would significantly impact the working families in the state, while providing a tax cut to wealthy New Yorkers. Repeal would cause over 2.7 million New Yorkers to lose health insurance coverage, including more than 218,000 in your home borough of Manhattan alone. Beyond people directly covered through the New York state insurance exchange, repeal would have devastating consequences to our entire health care system. Repeal means that all families could once again be subject to annual and lifetime limits and could be denied care for a pre-existing condition. Because repeal would reopen the prescription drug donut hole, seniors across the state would face higher prescription drug costs of $1,195 annually.

Additionally, repeal will cause a $24 billion budget shortfall for hospitals across New York state. Rural hospitals, in particular, would be under enormous financial pressure and could have to close their doors, leaving many in these areas without access to care. From Manhattan to Massena, New Yorkers reject this starkly ideological plan to repeal the ACA that would throw our entire health care system into disarray and not solve the real problems that families face.

While we acknowledge that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect, we will not stand idly by as you inflict a great wound on the people of New York we are sworn to represent and protect. We implore you to stop playing politics with the lives of our constituents and stop efforts to repeal this life-saving law.

Carolyn B. Maloney
Tom Suozzi
Kathleen Rice
Gregory Meeks
Grace Meng
Nydia Velázquez
Hakeem Jeffries
Yvette Clarke
Jerrold Nadler
Adriano Espaillat
Joseph Crowley
José Enrique Serrano
Eliot Engel
Nita Lowey
Sean Patrick Maloney
Paul Tonko
Louise Slaughter
Brian Higgins