FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 22, 2017
Contact: Allie.Aguilera, allie.aguilera@younginvincibles.org, 202.734.6529

Just days before sending their bill to the floor, Senate Republicans finally unveiled their secret health care repeal bill, which will hurt the health care of millions of young people across the country.

The Senate’s framework phases out Medicaid expansion and ends Medicaid as we know it, meaning millions of the lowest income young people will go back to being uninsured. And although today’s bill appears to offer slightly higher premium tax credits for some younger Americans, it completely eliminates tax credits for young people earning 350 FPL- 400 FPL, increases out-of-pocket costs, and allows states to cut key benefits from coverage, meaning that even those young people who could see slightly higher premium tax credits will get far worse coverage than they have now.

This disastrous bill opens the door to allowing insurance companies to discriminate against the 31 million young people with pre-existing conditions by giving states the option to waive essential health benefits. This is particularly harmful to the 83 percent of new mothers who are Millennials – putting us back to the days when 75 percent of individual insurance did not cover critical maternity coverage services – as well as the millions of young people who rely on benefits such as mental health services and substance use treatment.

Jen Mishory, Executive Director of Young Invincibles issued the following statement:

“This bill is cruel. Congressional Republicans will state that this is good for young people, when in fact it’s incredibly harmful for the most vulnerable in our generation.  The plan guts Medicaid more brutally than the House plan, which will force states to ration care for Medicaid enrollees, including more than 3.8 million young adults, 1.75 million veterans, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and more than 33 million children. It also allows states to opt out of providing essential health benefits like mental health and maternity coverage, which would make young people go without coverage for needed services. And don’t be fooled: the bill’s slightly higher premium tax credits for some young people won’t allow them to afford real coverage they actually need, when many of those same young people face worse coverage options with higher deductibles. Like the House bill, this proposal is fundamentally flawed and would harm health coverage for millions.”