Menendez Statement on House Passage of GOP ACA Repeal Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez decried today’s vote by House Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, no longer guarantee coverage for those with preexisting conditions, gut Medicaid, impose age and maternity taxes, defund Planned Parenthood, and cause millions of Americans to lose their insurance.

“When Republicans first failed at repealing the Affordable Care Act, they could have come to the table to work with Democrats on a bipartisan bill to make the law better. Instead, they doubled-down on a plan that will drive up health care costs for all Americans, strip coverage away from 24 million people, and abandon guaranteed protections for people with pre-existing conditions,” said Sen. Menendez.

“I cannot fathom what moral compass guides these representatives to treat their own constituents so cruelly, other than hatred towards a president who is no longer in office.  What I do know is that with this vote, House Republicans have shown they never intended to make our health care system more affordable, efficient, or accountable to the American people.

“As a senior member of the Finance Committee, I am ready to fight tooth and nail to defend the people whose lives depend on the Affordable Care Act and the hard-won gains it delivered to America’s families – all of whom deserve the ability to visit a doctor without fear of being sent into bankruptcy.”

Sen. Menendez will visit Hackensack University Medical Center tomorrow to meet with patients, their families and other New Jersey constituents who stand to lose their healthcare coverage under the GOP repeal bill.

Earlier today, Sen. Menendez called on Republicans, in an op-ed that ran in the Newark Star-Ledger, to abandon this partisan assault on the Affordable Care Act and work with Democrats to make improvements to the law.

A far-reaching group of health care organizations have vocally opposed the House GOP legislation, including the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, Children’s Hospital Association, American Nurses Association, AARP, Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, Catholic Health Association, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, American Lung Association, March of Dimes, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, American College of Physicians, and America’s Essential Hospitals.