Fact-checking Faso’s support of Trumpcare

Dear Editor: I received a mailing recently from U.S. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, where he bragged about his vote in the House in favor of the original version of Trumpcare.

It does not mention the enormous cuts in Medicaid that would be devastating. Sixty-five percent of seniors in nursing homes rely on Medicaid. And the loss of Medicaid for our Hudson Valley hospitals and health services would be catastrophic. We will likely have many medical facilities shutting down and far fewer doctors and specialists. And everyone in the area knows that we already have a terrible shortage in these services.

I address Faso’s four bullet points below:

1. “Insurance companies cannot deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.” This is technically true, but states are allowed to pass “waivers” for this, allowing insurance companies to do so ... so there is no guarantee. (Factcheck.org)

2. “No member of Congress is exempt from the law.” The truth is that the bill as passed in the House would have some exemptions for Congress. (Factcheck. org).

3. “$138 billion would be used for (blah blah blah) ...” while the House bill would give a ONE TRILLION dollar tax break to wealthy Americans over 10 years.

4. The tax credits Faso mentions come nowhere near matching the Obamacare funds that have helped millions of Americans like myself.

The bill Faso so proudly claims as his own would drop a total of 23 million Americans from health coverage (CBO report).

Faso’s district is pretty evenly split between the parties. But many Sanders supporters didn’t show up to vote for Clinton, while the Trump voters, many of whom had not voted in years, showed up en masse, proving that hate is a powerful force.

So Faso’s win was a fluke. He will not be so lucky in 2020 when Trump won’t be on the ballot. Gilbert Hetherwick

Saugerties, N.Y.