Published: Wednesday, September 20th, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 20, 2017
Contact: Alexa Mauzy-Lewis, Camino PR
212.255.2575 / alexa@caminopr.com
Cathy Junia, NAPAWF
773-213-4725/ cjunia@napawf.org
NEW YORK — Today, Donald Trump announced that he would sign the proposed Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill from Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana if the legislation passes in Congress. National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) Executive Director Sung Yeon Choimorrow issued the following statement in response:
“We are outraged by the Senate’s most recent attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and strip health insurance from millions of people. With the Cassidy-Graham proposal, cost sharing subsidies would be cut, Medicaid would be slashed and Planned Parenthood is targeted again for providing critical health services to low-income women. This is yet another blatant attack on women of color and reproductive justice.
“These attacks are of particular concern to Asian Americans. The ACA has provided an estimated 2.5 million the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community with access to no-cost preventive services such as HPV testing, prenatal care and breastfeeding support. It also halved the uninsured rate of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders nationwide. In addition, nearly 1 in 5 AAPI women rely on Medicaid for health care.
“With the significant gains the ACA has achieved in health insurance coverage, policy-makers should improve — not decimate — the ACA. Instead, politicians are playing partisan games, gambling with the lives of the millions who rely on affordable health insurance and Medicaid to survive. The idea that someone’s health depends on their wealth is cruel and immoral. While Republicans are trying to tout this bill as an improved solution to healthcare, we know this attempt is no different from the others — it is an attack on the people in our country who need healthcare most.
“We call on the Senate to support their constituents by opposing Graham-Cassidy. We urge lawmakers to strengthen the ACA so that quality health care is accessible to all.”
###
The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF): NAPAWF is the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander women and girls in the U.S. NAPAWF’s mission is to build a movement to advance social justice and human rights for Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls.