NM delegation skeptical of GOP health bill

Negative impact on middle class, lower-income groups cited

New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Wednesday continued to weigh in against a House Republican plan to replace to Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said Tuesday that the plan would cost jobs and result in fewer insured. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., the delegation’s lone Republican, also voiced skepticism about the bill Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, voiced his objection to the Republican bill.

“The legislation before us today brings to mind two questions for my (Republican) friends across the aisle: Have you forgotten these people? Or are you intentionally ignoring them?” Luján said. “Because this bill pits sick kids against aging grandparents and that’s just not OK. The ACA is not perfect, but we should mend it, not end it.”

Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top-ranking Democrat on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, said Wednesday that the Republican plan would not help provide affordable health care.

“The Republicans’ health care plan gives a tax break to the ultra-wealthy and forces the middle class to foot the bill,” he said. “Economists agree that the Republican plan to gut the Affordable Care

Act is bad for working families, and we will uncover just how devastating its impact could be.”

Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., said Wednesday, “Republicans in Congress are forging ahead with a health care plan that gives insurance and pharmaceutical companies more power to drive cost increases, raises costs for low-income and middle-aged Americans, and gives the wealthiest Americans a $600 billion tax cut.”

Pearce said the Republican plan is “not perfect.” Pearce is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has advocated for a complete repeal of the ACA. The broader House GOP plan would retain some key provisions of that law. One conservative GOP lawmaker told Politico this week that the bill “is Obamacare by a different form.”

Pearce said the legislation had at least one strong point: enabling states, including New Mexico, that dramatically expanded their Medicaid roles under Obamacare a transition period to adjust to the new law, if it is enacted.

“It does contain a muchneeded transition period for the state Medicaid program, which has the potential to greatly benefit New Mexico,” Pearce said Tuesday. “Significant questions remain about the implementation of this plan, its affordability for consumers, and its ability to be signed into law.”