Los Angeles – In response to today’s vote by the U.S. Senate on a “motion to proceed” with floor debate aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur issued the following statement:
“Today, Senate Republicans voted to continue their reckless effort to strip healthcare from nearly 32 million Americans. Hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ Californians and their familities have benefited from the ACA, many of whom have secured health insurance for the first time. Repealing the ACA will hit hardest the most vulnerable – disabled people, including those living with HIV and AIDS, the elderly and low-income, and those between the ages of 50 and 64.”
The vote followed months of grassroots mobilizing, pleas from virtually every medical organization and desperate testimony in thousands of town halls across the country. Ignoring the overwhelming unpopularity of efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, Vice President Pence today cast the tie-breaking vote (51-50).
Every Senate Democrat voted no, joined only by Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Casting yes votes were many of the senators whose constituents had benefited from Medicaid expansion and had expressed serious concerns about what would happen to U.S. healthcare and the stability of the insurance market, including Nevada Senator Dean Heller, Ohio Senator Rob Portman, and West Virigina Senator Shelley Moore Capito.
The next two days are absolutely critical for Equality California’s 800,000 members and their families. It is not too late to stop the repeal of the ACA—over the past few weeks we have mobilized thousands of our members who live in key states outside of Califonria with emails, calls and texts calling on them to fight to protect the ACA.
We appreciate the political courage shown today by Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski, and call on other senators to join them, and Senators Feinstein and Harris to defend vital healthcare access for millions of Americans. We will continue to urge our members who live in other states to call on their senators to oppose the GOP-led attack on our healthcare system.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance, and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org
