Patient advocates sound alarm on repeal of ACA

Cancer Society, March of Dimes, Lung Association are among opposing groups

WASHINGTON — As House Republicans move toward a vote to roll back the Affordable Care Act, nearly every major organization representing patients and doctors opposes the planned legislation.

The American Cancer Society’s advocacy arm warned in a letter to lawmakers this week that the House bill threatens patients’ ability “to afford insurance that covers the health care services they need to treat a cancer diagnosis.”

The National Alliance on Mental Illness called the legislation “life threatening.

And a coalition of 87 patient and physician groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes and the American Lung Association, told GOP congressional leaders in another letter that the House bill “could be devastating to people with serious diseases.”

Also on record against the legislation are the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians and the American Nurses Association.

The House GOP bill, which would cut more than $1 trillion in federal aid that helps low- and moderateincome Americans get health insurance, is projected to nearly double the number of people without health coverage over the next decade, increasing the ranks of uninsured by 24 million.

Millions of consumers would also see skimpier health coverage and higher deductibles under the GOP plan, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates.

Hardest hit in the long run would be lower-income Americans and those nearing retirement, according to the budget office.

Republican leaders dismiss those dire predictions and say they are clearing away government regulations to reduce costs and create what House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., often calls a more “patient-centered” system.

The GOP has support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Retail Federation.

Most patient advocates and leading physicians agree that Obamacare has shortcomings.

But across the country, many of the people who work closest with sick patients say they don’t understand how stripping health coverage and scaling back coverage will improve patients’ lives.