At UNH Disability Rights Conference, Senator Hassan Highlights Negative Impact Trumpcare Would Have on Individuals with Disabilities

At UNH Disability Rights Conference, Senator Hassan Highlights Negative Impact Trumpcare Would Have on Individuals with Disabilities

CONCORD - Today, Senator Maggie Hassan spoke at the University of New Hampshire's 5^th Annual Self Advocacy Conference, where she discussed the harmful impact the American Health Care Act, also known as Trumpcare, would have on Granite Staters and Americans who experience disabilities, and hundreds of thousands of other Granite Staters.

"Trumpcare would not just take us back to life before the Affordable Care Act, it would actually make things even worse than they were then with drastic changes and cuts to the traditional Medicaid program," said Senator Maggie Hassan. "Under Trumpcare states would be faced with cutting services that Granite Staters who experience disabilities depend on - such as personal care, prescription drugs, and rehabilitation services. And states would no longer have to consider schools eligible Medicaid providers, meaning New Hampshire school districts could lose out on more than 29 million."

"We cannot afford to go back to the days when we didn't support some of our most vulnerable people," added the Senator. "Thank you to all the advocates here today for your efforts to help people who experience disabilities, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure that all of our citizens have the health care coverage that they need to lead healthy, productive lives."

The Trumpcare bill that the House of Representatives passed yesterday would harm individuals who experience disabilities by cutting and capping the traditional Medicaid program, decimating critical services Americans with disabilities depend upon. And a New York Times report highlighted a little-noticed provision in the bill that would target special education and threaten millions of dollars in Medicaid funding for New Hampshire schools. The bill would also lead to higher costs for Americans with pre-existing conditions, including cancer, asthma, or diabetes, and would impose a new age tax for Americans between the ages of 50 and 65. And critically, Trumpcare would dramatically hurt efforts in New Hampshire to combat the heroin, fentanyl, and opioid crisis by ending Medicaid expansion and undermining the requirement that insurance companies must cover substance use disorder and behavioral health services.

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