Health experts warned today that more than six million Latinos may be without medical coverage due to the repeal of “Obamacare,” a decision that will reduce financial assistance for health access, reverse Medicaid and bring instability to the market.
“The total repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could have a massive impact on the health coverage of the population and local economies,” said Daniel Waldmann, vice president of the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) In the framework of the 34th Annual NALEO Conference, held in Dallas, Texas.
The health bill released Thursday by the Senate Republican leadership removes most of the taxes and mandates from Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, including mandatory medical coverage.
The Senate Republican plan includes heavy cuts to the Medicaid program (for low-income people) and gives states flexibility to stop offering coverage under Obamacare, such as maternity or mental health-related treatments.
According to data handled by the FAH, up to thirty million people nationwide will be without health coverage, including more than one million Hispanic children.
While under Obamacare the rate of uninsured Latinos declined by 10 percentage points from 2013 to 2016, with Trump’s new guidelines, these gains in recent years are expected to be lost and the number of unprotected Hispanics in the United States .
For Elizabeth Wright, director of the Center for Public Policy for Children and Families at Georgetown University in Washington, the American Health Care Act, as President Donald Trump’s proposal is known, ends more than fifty years of a relationship “Successful” between the federal government and the states thanks to Medicaid.
In addition, she regretted that the new measure would hamper access to health care for thousands of children belonging to low-income families.
Another issue that concerns the hospital sector will be the “significant impact” it will have on health care jobs.
According to data from the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation dedicated to promoting a better health system, nearly one million jobs in the health sector will have disappeared in 2026 because of the new regulations.
“The data speaks for itself,” added Waldmann of the Federation of American Hospitals.
Texas Health Plans Association Executive Director Jamie Dudensing, also on the panel, recalled that these plans need “consistency and stability,” two properties that she says “do not exist” in the current market.
So he called for “more flexibility and clarity” in the legislation being prepared by Republican Senators.
The bill has been embroiled in controversy because it was written secretly for weeks by a small group of 13 lawmakers led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and has raised doubts and divisions in the conservative party itself Approve it before the end of the month.
Trump has put a lot of hope in the Senate’s plan, given last week that the House-approved bill is “petty,” after celebrating its all-clear approval in a White House ceremony in May.
