A new study from the Commonwealth Fund finds that four million Americans have lost coverage, with lower income families experiencing the biggest coverage losses. The study says the rise of the uninsured rate is a direct result of Republican efforts to sabotage the insurance system – from repealing the individual mandate to allowing shoddy, short-term plans that jeopardize coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Moments after the release of the report, former HHS Secretary Tom Price admitted that the GOP health care agenda will harm the market and drive up costs.
From Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein: “Americans have had enough of Republicans making their health care more expensive. The GOP’s sabotage of the health insurance system is having real, adverse impacts on middle class Americans – voters know who is to blame and they’ll hold every Republican Senate candidate accountable for making their care less accessible and more expensive.”
This isn’t the first study to find that Republicans’ sabotage is having significant negative effects on Americans’ health care. A report in Forbes found that over 40 percent of Americans skipped going to the doctor when they were sick or injured last year because of the high cost of care and CNBC found that Americans are “more afraid of medical bills than an actual illness.” Consumers for Quality Care found that 85 percent of Americans are concerned about health care costs, with health care topping other cost concerns such as retirement or housing.
That’s why health care remains top of mind for voters: the latest HuffPost/YouGov poll found “American voters are more likely to say they’re focused about health care than any other issue” and Kaiser Health reported that the “majority of Americans are “worried about their out-of-pocket costs increasing so high that” they won’t be able to afford care.
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