Senate GOP Health Care Bill Hurts South Dakota
“While Democrats are working to make sure all Americans have affordable health care, Republicans in Congress, led by Rep. Kristi Noem, and Senators John Thune and Mike Rounds, are working to take that coverage away or to make it more expensive. Both the health care bill passed by the House with support from Rep. Noem, and the Senate GOP bill released today are, to use Donald Trump’s word, ‘mean,’ and both would hurt South Dakota families, communities, and health care providers. The proposed cuts to Medicaid would disproportionately impact rural areas and threaten rural hospitals, and its weakening of essential health benefit requirements would make insurance costlier or reduce coverage for needed treatments for those with pre-existing conditions like asthma and diabetes. While South Dakota families would be hurt, the wealthy would receive a tax cut.
“While improvements do need to be made to the Affordable Care Act, taking health care away from South Dakota families to give tax cuts to the wealthy will not do anything to improve South Dakotans’ health care. The Senate should reject this mean and cruel bill, and Republicans in Congress – including John Thune, Mike Rounds, and Kristi Noem – should finally sit down with Democrats and work in a bi-partisan way to write a bill that really does improve the coverage and health care of all South Dakotans.”
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