Mar 15, 2017 4 min read

Calling it “a scheme by extreme Republicans and President Trump and their team,” Sen. Bob Casey lambasted the American Health Care Act Wednesday morning.

“A scheme is an action to mislead,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said. “They say the health-care bill will be allegedly helpful to people, but they really want to take away health care and enrich others. Older Americans get robbed while insurance companies get rich and very wealthy people get richer.”

In a conference call from Washington, D.C., Casey criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which 3.2 million Americans ages 50 to 64 rely on for health insurance coverage.

The Republican proposal, also known as Trumpcare, calls for cuts in Medicare and Medicaid benefits and would make health coverage expensive or unattainable for millions, particularly older and low-income Americans, Casey said.

A report by the Congressional Budget Office, released Monday, projected that 24 million Americans would lose health insurance under AHCA, and premiums would rise for those covered individually.

Trumpcare legislation, which is in the House, also would halt subsidies to buy health coverage, replacing them with reduced tax credits.

Casey’s office provided data for Washington, Greene and Pennsylvania’s other 65 counties, projecting what tax credits would be in 2020 under the ACA compared with Trumpcare. The local data, courtesy of Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, shows Washington would be one of 11 counties that would realize an increase in its tax credit under Trumpcare – $820 (9 percent) for a family of four with $40,000 in income. Greene families would lose $1,380 (12 percent).

A 60-year-old single person with $20,000 in income, according to the study, would lose $2,370 (37 percent) in Washington and $3,830 (56 percent) in Greene. Individuals in this category would lose at least 35 percent of their tax credit in each of the 67 counties.

The American Health Care Act, Casey said, “would have adverse results.” He added that Medicaid “could be slashed by $880 billion over the next 10 years. How can you say you are fighting for older residents, individuals with disabilities, children and workers if you are willing to support this destructive form of legislation?

“This is because of a maniacal obsession to give enormous tax cuts to the rich by the Republican Party. They’re not serious about making our health-care system better.”

Citing a headline on an article in The Atlantic this week – “The AHCA’s tradeoff: giving up vital care to get tax cuts for the rich” – the senator said: “I haven’t seen a better short summary of the situation.”

Casey, a ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, was accompanied by Charlotte Kitler, a Medicare recipient from Nanticoke, and Howard Bedlin of the National Council on Aging.

“I’m from an area that got two feet of snow (Tuesday),” said Kitler, who is from northeastern Pennsylvania. “We got hammered, but that is nothing compared with the hammering our seniors will receive from this act.”

Kitler is a volunteer adviser to seniors on health-care fraud and how the financial losses hurt the system. “Seniors are concerned about losses and cuts in services,” she said. “I’m afraid these issues will hit seniors hard.”

Another issue, Kitler said, is that “Medicare is running out of money. It is on line to be insolvent in 2028. According to the CBO report, the new plan would make it insolvent in 2024.”

Bedlin said the Trumpcare bill “would harm not only seniors, but people with disabilities and others. How horrible this bill would be for them.”

He is upset with the potential impact on Medicaid. “That really is a lifeline for seven million low-income seniors. It covers about two of every three nursing home residents,” Bedlin said.

Casey was still miffed as the conference call wound down.

“The basic problem is the Republicans in Washington never worked on a serious health-care proposal … I’m hoping the president can get away from this and come up with a better plan.”