By: Team Sherrod

Yesterday, Tom Price, President Trump’s former top health official, said that Republicans’ tax law is making it more difficult for Americans to gain healthcare because it repealed the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.

Price’s comments echo what Sherrod has been pointing out for months: The GOP’s tax bill isn’t helping the middle class—it’s just a giveaway to the wealthiest 1%, while actually making it harder for millions of people to get the quality, affordable care they deserve.

This news comes the same week as a new report from The Commonwealth Foundation, which shows that approximately 4 million Americans have lost their coverage while millions more have seen their premiums increase because of Republican leaders’ consistent efforts to undermine our healthcare system. It’s crucial that we keep speaking out.

Washington Post: Trump’s former health secretary: Americans will pay more because GOP weakened Obamacare

Jeff Stein – May 1

Key points:

• On Tuesday, President Trump’s former top health official said the Republican tax law would raise the cost of health insurance for some Americans because it repealed a core provision of the Affordable Care Act.
• Tom Price, Trump’s first secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said people buying insurance on government-run marketplaces will face higher prices because the tax law repealed the ACA’s individual mandate. The mandate had forced most Americans to have health coverage or face a financial penalty.
• Price’s comments align with predictions from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In November, the CBO had projected that 13 million fewer Americans would have health insurance by 2027 as a result of the elimination of the individual mandate. The CBO also said average premiums in the exchanges would increase by about 10% in most years over the next decade, compared with a scenario in which the mandate had been left in place.
• Price’s comments follow those of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who told the Economist he was unconvinced the law’s corporate cuts would significantly raise wages for American workers. During the debate over the law, White House officials repeatedly said the corporate cuts would increase average wages by $4,000 per worker.

Read more here.