Senate Republican Leadership Continues Partisan Gamble with Our Nation’s Health Care

Washington, D.C. – Senate Republican leaders announced at a press conference today that they do not have a final health care bill ready for public review, but have made it clear they want to vote this summer. The proposal is being drawn up behind closed doors by a select group of Republican Senators, with no committee hearings or public input. News accounts suggest the bill will contain about 80 percent of the language of the House health care bill, which passed last month to wide public disapproval because it would cause 23 million people to lose coverage and drive up cost for America’s families. Following is the statement of Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, on the Senate Republican’s action.

“The lives of millions of America’s families should not hang on the slender thread of a health plan being written in the Senate behind closed doors, with little to no input from health care experts let alone the public. The Senate is clearly feeling the heat to produce a bill that can pass under procedural gimmicks. But they should abandon their headlong partisan rush. People are struggling to receive affordable health care and the Senate should take the time to focus on meaningful measures that will increase coverage, improve care and reduce health care costs for our nation’s families as the President Trump has repeatedly promised.”