Levin, McDermott Statement on Republican "Better Way' Health Agenda

Statement

Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA) today released the following statement ahead of House Republicans unveiling their "Better Way" messaging platform on health care:

"For six years, Republicans have been threatening to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. They've promised more than 35 times to deliver a legislative replacement to the health care law.

"The reason that Republicans haven't been able to produce an alternative is that the Affordable Care Act has provided affordable, reliable health coverage for millions and millions of Americans, and introduced new protections so that no matter your gender, your age, your income, whether you're an American with a disability, whether you have a pre-existing condition -- you're covered. Today, the number of Americans without health insurance is the lowest it's ever been.

"Instead, we've only seen proposals to repeal the law, which would take health insurance away from more than 24 million Americans. We've seen proposals that would harm seniors and low-income Americans by significantly cutting Medicaid and Medicare. We've seen proposals that would roll-back consumer protections that have meant women aren't charged more than men for the same coverage. We've seen proposals that would increase health care costs for hard-working American families.

"What we expect from the latest Republican blueprint is more of the same -- recycled proposals that would take health care away from millions of Americans without any real trace of an alternative."

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