Horrific plan

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz claim they want any new health care law to lower premiums. However, the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act will drastically raise health care costs for most Americans, assuming they can still access coverage at all.

How? The BCRA drastically lowers tax credits in the Affordable Care Act that help people purchasing plans on the state health exchanges afford premiums by linking them to lower-value bronze plans instead of more generous silver plans. The proposal would also cut off subsidies for those making more than 350 percent of the federal poverty line, rather than 400 percent in the ACA.

Worse, BCRA also drastically cuts Medicaid, which efficiently and costeffectively covers more than 70 million Americans. Instead of further expanding an effective program, the GOP plan rolls back federal support for the Medicaid expansion, permanently capping federal contributions and rewriting waiver rules to encourage states to cut essential programs. These draconian cuts will cause millions more people to lose insurance, and while likely cutting services for children, the elderly needing nursing care, and the disabled.

And all this happens so people earning more than $200,000 and insurance companies can get massive tax breaks that they do not need. Cornyn, Cruz and the rest of Congress must emphatically reject this horrific proposal. Patrick O’Mahen, Houston