More than 2.8 million Pennsylvanians have access to health insurance through Medicaid, including over 175,000 people suffering from the disease of addiction who are now able to receive treatment because of Medicaid expansion. But right now, the 13 Republican men secretly crafting the Senate’s health care plan are plotting to roll back Medicaid and slash $45 billion in the fight against the opioid epidemic. And the senator leading that charge is Pennsylvania’s own Pat Toomey.
“Medicaid has provided hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians with the health care they need. Pat Toomey is proposing a bill that will increase premiums, cut treatment for people suffering from addiction, throw seniors who are in nursing homes on the street, raise health care costs for Pennsylvanians with pre-existing conditions, and make prescription drugs unaffordable for millions,” said Brandon Cwalina, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “Pat Toomey has turned his back on his constituents.”
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is encouraging Pennsylvanians to call Senator Pat Toomey and urge him and the Senate leadership to hold open hearings on this bill. Our call tool, call.padems.com, will automatically connect users to Toomey’s office.
BACKGROUND
“Republican leaders appeared on Tuesday to be drafting legislation that would do even more to slow the growth of Medicaid toward the end of the coming decade. And conservative senators, led by Senator Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, are determined to hold the line on federal spending, pitting two Senate factions against each other.” [New York Times, 6/20/2017]