On the 15th anniversary of the ACA, Republicans seek to hike premiums and take away health care from staters
Watch the full event here
WISCONSIN – Today, Governor Tony Evers joined Protect Our Care Wisconsin to highlight the ongoing threats to American health care as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) turns 15 years old. For over a decade, millions of Americans have been able to get quality and affordable health care through the ACA, and more Wisconsinites than ever are covered. But Republicans remain hard at work trying to rip away access to quality, affordable health coverage. They’re pushing to take away tax credits from working families that are helping Wisconsinites save thousands of dollars on their health care and to cut Medicaid funding by at least $880 billion to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.
At the same time, Donald Trump has been making it harder for families to enroll in affordable health care coverage. He shortened open enrollment, required more paperwork from people trying to enroll, raised premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and slashed funding for enrollment assistance by 90%. Republicans are also trying to roll back protections for pre-existing conditions and ban Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices. The bottom line is that Wisconsin families can’t afford GOP price hikes. Speakers called on their members of Congress to push back against Republican attacks and protect access to affordable, high quality care.
“The Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, changed the game when it comes to healthcare for millions of Americans,” said Protect Our Care Wisconsin State Director Joe Zepecki. “It expanded access, it lowered costs, and literally millions of Americans have benefited in the 15 years since it went into effect, despite repeated attempts by Republicans in Congress to undermine the law, to throw out the law, to repeal the law, and unfortunately, as the 15th anniversary of that law being signed approaches, healthcare is under attack from a MAGA majority in Congress and an administration that seems hell-bent on making it harder to access healthcare.”
“With the reckless actions coming out of Washington in recent weeks, it’s more important than ever to protect access to affordable healthcare here in Wisconsin and across our country,” said Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. “I promise that, as long as I’m governor, we’re going to keep doing everything we can to fight this recklessness and make sure Wisconsinites receive healthcare that’s affordable and accessible.”
“Cuts to Medicaid, to health research, to veterans care aren’t abstract for our family,” said Krisjon Olson, a Wisconsinite with a pre-existing condition and mother of a daughter with special needs. “They are very personal, but they will affect every person in this state, especially those already fighting to survive. They will devastate patients with lifelong conditions like mine who rely on stable insurance and medical innovation just to make it to adulthood.”
“I am a lawyer by trade, but I stopped practicing law in 2021 to chase my dreams of being a full-time entrepreneur,” said Cierra Chesir. “One of those things that helped me make that decision was the Affordable Care Act. It has really helped me to be able to chase my dreams for the last couple of years, and I hope that it remains that way. It does worry me that if they [Republicans] take the premium tax credits away, because there’s a chance that instead of, you know, paying $120 a month, I may have to start paying $500 a month.”
“I celebrate the 15th anniversary because prior to that I have at least six pre pre-existing conditions and prior to ACA I had a very difficult time getting insurance,” said Cate Miller. “In fact, I was turned down by an insurance company called the Golden Rule. I didn’t feel it was a golden rule to be turned down by an insurance company just because I’m lucky enough to have type one diabetes, Addison’s disease, arthritis and other pre-existing conditions. And I do fear that going forward, if we don’t have this coverage, I may not be insurable.”
You can watch the full event here, and learn more about Republican efforts to raise health care costs here and GOP attacks on Medicaid here.
