Republican Health Care Bill Will Kill an Estimated 28,600 People a Year in US

By teleSUR

28 June 17

Nearly 300 national and local organizations expressed deep concern over the bill, signing a letter addressed to the Senate leadership Monday.

he Senate Republican Health Care Bill vote was postponed Tuesday until after the July 4 recess. The bill is estimated to kill about 28,600 people each year in the U.S. and will wean nearly 22 million from insurance coverage over the next 10 years, Buzzfeed News reported.

Nearly 300 national and local organizations expressed deep concern over the bill, signing a letter addressed to the Senate leadership Monday, highlighting the fact that the bill will affect rape and child abuse victims.

A vast majority of states have no laws to protect rape victims from being charged more by the insurance companies as a result of their assault. And the insurance companies might charge more for the health care plans if they count the ailments as pre-existing conditions, according to Buzzfeed News.

Thousands of activists and groups have been rallying for the past week to "put down" the lethal bill as in 2018 alone an estimated 15 million people will lose their insurance. The progressive groups hailed the postponement as a “huge victory” and a “giant step toward single-payer health care."

The letter also addresses an amendment to the Senate bill that prohibits people from purchasing health insurance for six months if they go 63 days without it.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, Planned Parenthood will lose US$225 million in funding during the bill’s one-year block of federal reimbursements for care.

Planned Parenthood president, Cecile Richards called the Republican plan “the worst bill for women’s health in a generation” that “would devastate millions of people." Victims of rape and domestic abuse would suffer “devastating” effects if either the House or Senate proposals to revamp health care are passed.

Advocates claim that the measure would be harmful to domestic violence victims who leave an abusive partner who may have paid the bills, but who need to figure out the health care needs during the transition.

"We ask you not to turn your back on victims," the letter added. "Protect their access to health care to make sure that they have a pathway to healing, safety and well-being."

"It'd be deeply disappointing to see Congress put policies in place that would directly harm so many survivors," Liz Roberts, deputy CEO of Safe Horizon, one of the nation's largest victims assistance organizations, which also signed the letter, told Buzzfeed News.

Indivisible, a progressive organization that was established after the 2016 election to oppose Donald Trump and the Republican policies, mobilized activists from nearly than 3,000 chapters across the country to protest the bill, the Guardian reported. “It is a huge, huge victory,” Ezra Levin, Indivisible’s executive director told the Guardian. “But it’s not a final victory.”

Another group, National Nurses United's executive director RoseAnn DeMoro said, “It’s beyond a victory." "What people are saying is, ‘We want a society, we don’t want a market to protect our health.’"