Republicans in the House and Senate are pushing forward their tax reform bills at a rapid pace and are hoping for a final passage within the next few weeks. Unfortunately, their tax bills include big cuts to health care in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. This week, Senate Republicans included an amendment to their bill that repeals the ACA’s individual mandate as a method for paying for their tax cuts. The individual mandate is critical to keeping individual market coverage affordable and keeping the individual market stable. It will be very important for senators, particularly moderate Republicans, to hear from their constituents’ opposition to including cuts to health care as part of the tax bill.
Find your senator and call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121
Suggested Script:
I am a health care provider and a constituent in Senator XX’s state. As a medical professional, I’m very concerned about proposed cuts to health care that have been included in the tax reform bill, particularly the repeal of the individual mandate of the ACA. The individual mandate helps ensure healthy people sign up for coverage, maintaining a balanced risk pool that keeps individual market coverage affordable. Repealing this provision would lead to more patients being uninsured and could drive up premiums, making health care more expensive. Please ask Senator XX to vote against any proposed tax reform bill that includes health care provisions that would increase the number of patients losing health care coverage.
