Congressional Recess Packet: Republican Attacks on Health Care

As Members of Congress travel back home, it must be made clear that Republican cuts to health care will bankrupt American families. Deep cuts and structural changes to Medicaid will jeopardize health care for 72 million Americans who depend on the program—including children, people with disabilities, seniors, and working-class families.

Meanwhile, Affordable Care Act tax credits that help people afford their health insurance premiums are about to expire. These enhanced premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act are critical for ensuring access to affordable coverage for middle-class families as well as small businesses owners and employees. Without action to extend the ACA tax credits, over four million Americans will lose their coverage and 15 million will see their premiums spike by hundreds of dollars per year.

In this guide, you will find talking points, state/district-specific resources, and social media content that will help you engage your constituents on these issues back home.

Talking Points

Republican Cuts to Medicaid

• Medicaid is a lifeline for working families, providing affordable coverage to 72 million low-income workers, seniors, children, parents, and disabled Americans.
• Medicaid cuts will devastate hospitals across the country, resulting in layoffs of health care workers (meaning longer wait times), losses in core lines of service, and even closures of rural and safety-net hospitals, impacting not just those on Medicaid.
• Cuts to Medicaid will increase premiums for families with private insurance, who are already struggling with high health care costs—you can’t destabilize a quarter of the health care system without disastrous effects.
• While the idea of work requirements may be popular, they are proven to have no benefits to employment while kicking eligible people off of their health care due to increased bureaucracy.

• Because of this bill, 16 million people will lose coverage, increasing medical debt by over $50 million for 5.3 million people.

• On average, people in Medicaid will pay an additional $542 a year in out-of-pocket costs.

• With 10% of seniors enrolled in Medicaid, the bill also raises premium and out-of-pocket costs for low-income seniors.

Looming Expiration of ACA Tax Credit Enhancements

• In 2021, Democrats acted to slash the cost of premiums for middle-class families who have Affordable Care Act coverage.
• The tax credits which are responsible for these lowered costs are now set to expire at the end of 2025.
• If Congress does not act, millions of Americans will see their premiums spike dramatically—effectively triggering a $23 billion tax hike on the middle-class next year.
• It would drive up health insurance premiums, burden small businesses, push millions off coverage, and saddle families with higher out-of-pocket costs and medical debt.
• Expiring premium tax credits would push more than four million people off their health coverage.
• And while these tax credits don’t technically expire until the end of the year, Congress must act quickly to extend the cap on premiums. If they don’t, the 24 million Americans who rely on ACA coverage will see their premiums spike in late summer and early fall when they receive renewal notices.
• FOR RED STATE DEMOCRATS: Red states depend on ACA coverage: the proportion of people in red states benefitting from premium tax credits is more than two-and-a-half times the rate in blue states.¹ If the GOP ignores the credits’ expirations, they’ll be selling out their own communities.

State/District Resources

• How Medicaid cuts will impact hospitals in your state. (Third Way)
• State-by-state breakdown of medical debt increase. (Third Way)
• Breakdown of the number of people who will lose coverage. (Joint Economic Committee)
• How much each state will lose in Medicaid funding. (KFF)
• Job losses by state from combined Medicaid & SNAP cuts. (The Commonwealth Fund)
• State-specific ACA Premium Increase Calculator if tax credits expire. (KFF)
• Estimates of the size of average and total ACA premium tax credits by state & the number of state residents benefitting. (KFF)
• Percent premium increases if tax credits expire by Congressional district (KFF).
• Timeline for ACA extension in State-based ACA Marketplaces (State Marketplace Network)
• State-by-state breakdown of self-employed workers and small business owners who depend on ACA premium tax credits. (US Treasury)

Sample Social Media

Tweets

Medicaid

• President Trump and Republicans in Congress voted to cut over a TRILLION dollars from Medicaid, kicking nearly 10 million people off their coverage and raising health care costs for working families.
• The Republican attack on Medicaid is going to decimate hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors’ offices across the country, putting everyone’s health care at risk.
• Republican cuts to Medicaid will cost [hospital name] in [city/state] millions—putting local jobs and care at risk.
• Republican lawmakers just voted to slash $XX billion from [state]’s Medicaid funding—putting coverage for XX people on the chopping block.
• Thanks to Republican health care cuts, XX families in [state] will face $XX more in medical debt. Families can’t afford this.

Affordable Care Act

• The time for Congress to act on extending ACA tax credits is NOW. By late summer, the 24 million Americans who rely on ACA coverage will start to see next year’s premiums spike.
• More than 15 million Americans in red states benefit from enhanced ACA tax credits—Republicans are selling out their own communities by letting them expire.
• Families in [state] received $XX last year to help bring down the cost of their ACA coverage. If Republicans don’t extend the cap on ACA premiums, families will see much of that assistance dry up.
• More than XX [State residents] benefitted from enhanced ACA tax credits last year—extending them is critical to keep coverage affordable for those families.
• [District residents] who get their coverage through the ACA will see their premiums go up by XXX% on average next year if Congress fails to extend ACA tax credits.
  • Use this version if your state has a federally facilitated Marketplace and select the tab for average premium increase on the KFF webpage.

• In my [district/state], a 60-year-old couple making $82,000 a year will see their premiums spike by XXX% next year if Congress fails to extend tax credits for ACA coverage.
  • Use this version if your state has a state-based Marketplace and select the tab for 60-Year-Old Couple on the KFF webpage.

Graphic Images 

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Horizontal Graphics 

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Vertical Graphics 

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