Says Attempts to Defund ACA Threaten Current Medicare Beneficiaries

(Washington) – Today, Congressman John B. Larson released the following statement on efforts by House Republican leadership to disrupt the Affordable Care Act. To date, the Republican controlled House has attempted to repeal or defund the Affordable Care Act more than 40 times, threatening care and services for millions of Americans.

"Attempts by House Republican leadership to disrupt healthcare have gone well beyond a political exercise in futility. Now, with this latest effort to defund the Affordable Care Act by threatening to shut down the federal government, the Republican Congress threatens to wreck healthcare for a third of all Americans including our seniors.

"By defunding the Affordable Care Act and shutting down the federal government, Republican leadership would effectively disrupt payments to Medicare providers and Medicare advantage plans for millions of seniors and increase out-of-pocket costs. In addition, defunding would also weaken our efforts to reduce fraud in our healthcare system and eliminate new prescription drug coverage and preventative care under Medicare.

"The Republican Congress cannot continue to make idle threats when the care of our seniors and millions of Americans hangs in the balance. It's long overdue that we move forward to put our country back to work and deal with the issues that matter to the American people."

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