Health

In response to the three new confirmed cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, Rep. Salud Carbajal released the following statement: “As we continue to learn more about the origin of these confirmed cases, it is important that our community remain proactive and calm,” said Rep. Carbajal. “The best thing we can do is listen to the experts and continue taking smart, preventive steps to stop the spread of disease: practice social distancing, stay home as much ... Read more

Tomorrow, Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA-24) will hold a press conference announcing the introduction of H.R. 1174, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2019, his bipartisan bill to ensure that federal firefighters receive the same access to job-related disability and retirement benefits as state, county, and municipal firefighters. WHO: Rep. Salud Carbajal Charlie Martinez, President, Vandenberg Professional Firefighters, International Association of Fire Fighters/California Professional Firefight... Read more

Santa Barbara, CA – Today, Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA-24) made the following statement after the announcement that Anthem Blue Cross will discontinue many health insurance plans through Covered California, including in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties: “Anthem Blue Cross of California regrettably announced this week that they plan to end coverage for people on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual health insurance plan in most of Southern California, including on the Central ... Read more

Today, Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24) announced his co-sponsorship of the Marketplace Certainty Act H.R. 3258, legislation to permanently fund and expand access to Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) subsidies. Senate Republicans’ latest ACA repeal effort was halted last night and reports indicate that they now plan to repeal this legislation without any replacement plan. “Senate Republicans are faltering in their misguided attempt to work only within their own party to repeal the Affordable Care A... Read more

Today, Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24) released the following statement on the Senate health care bill: “For weeks, Senate Republicans shut the public out of writing their healthcare repeal legislation, and if passed, American families will be shut out of affordable health care, too. The Senate finally released their backroom deal today, which leaves millions without access to health care coverage and increases out-of-pocket and premium costs – all in order to fund large tax breaks for the we... Read more

Today, Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24) released the following statement regarding his vote against passage of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in the U.S. House of Representatives: “In order to get their harmful legislation passed, the House Majority took a bill that leaves 24 million Americans without health insurance – and made it even worse. The AHCA leaves Central Coast families with fewer protections, allowing insurers to make coverage prohibitively expensive for people with pre-exist... Read more

Santa Barbara Congressmember Salud Carbajal made yet another statement from the House floor on Friday, denouncing the Republicans’ health-care bill, but he never got a chance to vote against it. That’s because President Donald Trump and House Republican leader Paul Ryan pulled the American Health Care Act before Congress could act on it, knowing it lacked the votes needed to pass. The bill failed because of unanimous opposition from Democrats coupled with defections by two key factions within th... Read more

Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24) issued the following statement on the decision by Republican leadership to pull its Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill from consideration in the House of Representatives: “The failure by the House Majority to pass their healthcare repeal bill is good news to the millions of families whose lives have been improved by gaining access to affordable, quality healthcare over the past seven years under the ACA. This misguided plan would have put an undue financial ... Read more

The Republicans’ much embattled Affordable Care Act repeal legislation — the American Health Care Act — was passed by the House Budget Committee, on which Santa Barbara Congressmember Salud Carbajal sits, by a 19-17 vote. Carbajal, a first-term Democrat now entering his eighth week in office, voted against the bill, explaining it “shafted the middle class.” All Democrats on the committee voted against the bill. They were joined in their “no” votes by three Republicans who belong to the arch-cons... Read more

The timing couldn’t have been much better. Or worse. The very day Santa Barbara’s Congressmember Salud Carbajal had scheduled a mic-dropping town hall forum to denounce the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its intensely anticipated report on the same subject. The findings were extremely damning. In 10 years, 24 million fewer Americans would have health insurance if the Republicans’ American Health Care Act ​— ​now dubbed Trumpcare ​—... Read more