A few weeks ago the plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) failed to advance in the House of Representatives because it did not have enough Republican support. Part of the reason the bill failed was because the legislation did not go far enough in stripping vital health care protections from working class people. Yesterday, an amendment was made that seeks to achieve that dangerous objective.
The new legislation, which explicitly exempts members of Congress, would harm millions of people by making it possible for individual states to allow insurance companies to deny coverage or charge more if a person has a preexisting condition, such as having been diagnosed as HIV+. The amendment would also allow states to opt out of the essential health benefits requirement.
This effort to gain votes by appeasing legislators who want to return to the dark ages must be stopped. LGBT people are more than twice as likely as the general population to be uninsured — and if Republicans repeal the ACA, that number will get a lot worse. Transgender and gender nonconforming communities need the ACA to protect themselves and their families.
Please contact your legislator and tell them to vote against a repeal in order to #SaveACA.
You can find your legislator by typing in your zip code here.
This post, by TLC Policy Counsel Sasha Buchert, is part of our Policy Desk series.