Commentary: President Obama and Congressional Democrats rallied to protect New Mexicans covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from Republican efforts to repeal the law. If Republicans repeal the ACA, approximately 266,000 New Mexicans stand to lose their health care coverage.
“Republicans don’t understand that their political efforts to repeal the ACA will rip health care coverage from hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans and put it out of reach for many families,” said Debra Haaland, Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “Democrats will fight for New Mexican’s right to accessible and affordable health care coverage, so our children, young people, and seniors can live healthy, productive lives. ”
According to FiveThirtyEight, the number of uninsured people in New Mexico dropped by 158,400 since the ACA was enacted in 2013. And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that under the ACA nearly 15,000 New Mexicans under the age of 26 are covered by their parents’ insurance, more than 82,000 New Mexicans are covered under Medicaid expansion, and health insurance companies can no longer discriminate against New Mexicans with preexisting conditions.
The irresponsible Republican health care repeal bill will make America sick again by putting insurance companies back in charge of health care, ripping health care away from nearly 30 million people nationwide and raising premiums. The Congressional Budget Office warned that health premiums would increase under a repeal.
Reports state that this enrollment period 35,633 people signed up for health care coverage through New Mexico’s exchange, which was set up through provisions in the ACA. Overall, the country has exceeded enrollment records set last year as more and more Americans take advantage of the greater transparency and choice the ACA has to offer.