Civil and Human Rights Coalition Condemns Graham-Cassidy’s Attack on Affordable Care Act and Medicaid

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the health care legislation released today by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.):

“This latest attempt by Republicans to undermine the Affordable Care Act and destroy Medicaid is mean-spirited and must fail. Instead of seeking a bipartisan path to stabilize the health insurance marketplaces and improve access to care, the Graham-Cassidy bill takes up many of the worst parts of the previous failed partisan attempts to undermine our nation’s health care systems. Capping and block-granting Medicaid, repealing the Medicaid expansion, and undermining protections for people with pre-existing conditions would harm working families, especially low-income and communities of color, and is not the path forward that the nation wants.

If senators are serious about improving health care in this country, they should allow the bipartisan process being led by the chair and ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee – Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) – to proceed. Ramming through bad legislation to gut the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid because of a ticking countdown is ill-advised, and is playing politics with the health of our people.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.