Sen. Carper on Senate Republicans’ Vote to Repeal Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) released the following statement on the Senate Republicans’ vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act which would increase the federal deficit and roll back key consumer protections and health benefits:

“I’m disappointed that my Republican colleagues in the Senate attempted to roll back legislation that will protect consumers and provide Delawareans with better health care outcomes for less money. This is the wrong direction for the Republicans – both in the House and the Senate – to take. It would weaken our health care system, not make it better.

“The Affordable Care Act has already provided significant benefits, such as Medicare Part D rebate checks, to many Americans, including almost 8,000 people in Delaware. The health care reform law has also provided Delaware with millions of dollars in funding to bolster public health, strengthen consumer protections, and support private research and innovation. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would also eliminate critical new tools that the government needs to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the health care system.

“With today’s vote, the Republicans attempted to take away key benefits from Delawareans including protections for patients with preexisting conditions, tax credits for small businesses to provide their employees with health insurance, support to make prescriptions drugs for seniors more affordable and provisions allowing children to remain on their parents’ health insurance until age 26.

“Perhaps most troubling – as our country grapples with a record federal deficit – is the fact that this effort to repeal the health reform law is fiscally irresponsible, rolling back key provisions to reduce our massive federal deficit. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, repealing the law would increase the deficit by $230 billion over the next ten years and $1.4 trillion over the next 20 years. We simply can’t afford to repeal this health reform law. My hope is that when this political posturing is over, Republicans will work with Democrats to tackle the real problems facing this country – reining in our budget deficit and creating jobs.”

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