Civil Rights is our responsibility Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.

Dear Mr. Walker:

In the past, you have contacted my office regarding efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). I write today to update you on efforts by the Senate majority to repeal that law.

As you may be aware, the Senate majority is plotting to bring a “new” health care scheme to a vote. Referred to as “Graham-Cassidy,” this proposal regurgitates the worst elements of the majority’s previous proposals. Like their earlier schemes, Graham-Cassidy was developed with no amendments from the minority and without adequate opportunity for public input. It would have significant damaging effects and has earned broad public opposition. If successful, it will decimate the health insurance of millions of Americans and shred important protections that individuals have come to count on, in Pennsylvania and throughout our Nation.

The majority in Congress is continuing their attempts to change our health care system through an expedited process known as “budget reconciliation.” This process allows the Senate majority to advance its proposal with special procedures which limit debate on the proposal and allows the legislation to advance without the support of a single member of the minority. Fortunately, there is a time limit on how long the majority has to act on their scheme under reconciliation. Under this limit, their ability to pass Graham-Cassidy on a party line vote ends on September 30, 2017. Despite bipartisan opposition to the plan, the Senate majority still plans to seek passage of the proposal before September 30. The majority can still pass Graham-Cassidy, or any other health care scheme, before that time.

The most recent proposal from the majority will negatively impact tens of millions of people if it passes, including senior citizens and the vulnerable. Under this scheme, the individual insurance market would be destabilized; Medicaid would be decimated, harming children with disabilities and limiting access to opioid and substance abuse treatment; and protections for those with pre-existing conditions would be stripped, without adequate safeguards to ensure that they can remain covered. We have made too much progress in recent years to allow this to happen. Should Graham-Cassidy come to a vote in the Senate, I will fight it with everything that I have.

That the majority is struggling to scrape together 50 votes speaks volumes on Graham-Cassidy, and how ill-advised it is for our state and our Nation. I am hopeful that additional members of the Senate majority will listen to their constituents and carefully consider how this plan will negatively impact the communities they represent. I hope that instead of continuing with their efforts to strip health insurance from millions of Americans, the majority might get serious, end their focus on repealing the Affordable Care Act and work in a bipartisan way to keep what is working with the health care system and fix what is not. A good first start would be to return to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions’ bipartisan efforts to stabilize the individual market. The majority’s obsession with repeal derailed those efforts, but reviving them would return the Senate to a new and more deliberate approach to improving the health care system for all Americans.

I hope you have found this update useful. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.

For more information on this or other issues, I encourage you to visit my website, https://casey.senate.gov. I hope you will find this online office a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.

Sincerely,

Bob Casey

United States Senator