After the House’s 217-213 vote Thursday to repeal the Affordable Care Act by replacing it with the American Health Care Act, the country’s largest Asian American and Pacific Islander advocacy groups were quick to express their disapproval.
Among vocally opposing AAPI groups were the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (AAAJ), Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), who said the AHCA would have negative consequences for Americans.
“The AHCA turns back the clock on the many gains our communities made under the ACA, which covered millions of consumers who previously had no access to health care because they had pre-existing conditions or could not afford the premiums,” Doreena Wong, health access project director at AAAJ, said in a statement. “There is no doubt that premiums will rise for most people and many who now have coverage through Medi-Cal will become uninsured again. The AHCA is simply a huge tax break for the wealthy, and devastates health coverage for low and middle income Americans.”
Rep. Judy Chu, CAPAC chair, voted against the plan with the rest of the House’s Democrats and 20 Republicans. She said in a statement that the bill would eliminate coverage for 24 million Americans, including almost two million Asian Pacific Americans.
The AHCA reduces premiums for younger adults and increase premiums for older adults, according to the Congressional Budget Office — insurers would be able to charge older Americans five times more than what they charge young adults with the same coverage.
Additionally, Medicaid — a government program that provides health coverage to low-income adults — would lose $880 billion in funding over the next decade. The CBO estimates that 4 million fewer people would be covered by Medicaid by 2026.
“Under the Affordable Care Act, uninsured rates for Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese Americans were reduced by half over six years, meaning that thousands of our Southeast Asian American mothers, kids, and grandparents are finally getting the preventative and life-saving care they needed,” SEARAC Executive Director Quyen Dinh said in a statement. “We will not stand by and let politicians take away our care in a costly political gamble designed to line the pockets of the wealthy. We call on the Senate to stop the AHCA in its tracks.”
