Press Releases

Today, Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA-24) joined Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to shed light on the devastating costs the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would impose on millions of our nation’s Veterans.

Last night, Republicans introduced an amendment to the AHCA that would prohibit veterans who are “eligible” to receive VA care from receiving any tax credits to help pay for care outside the VA, even if they are not enrolled in the VA. In addition to preventing veterans from access to affordable health care options, forcing veterans to seek care at the VA could create a significant influx of veterans enrolling in the VA at a time when the VA is not equipped to enroll them quickly. This is particularly a concern in light of President Trump’s hiring freeze.

Rep. Carbajal delivered the following remarks on the AHCA amendment:

“The House Majority is so intent on recklessly forcing their ill-conceived healthcare bill through the House, that they have made their repeal of healthcare for 24 million Americans even more destructive – by preventing as many as 7 million veterans from participating in their healthcare plan.

“As drafted, this amendment to the AHCA will exclude veterans from receiving tax credits to offset healthcare costs. Meaning more veterans will be forced to access an already overburdened VA system for affordable healthcare. I was proud to serve in the Marine Corps, and I can tell you that most veterans do not rely solely on the VA for healthcare coverage. It is cruel for this piece of legislation to incidentally leave behind millions of veterans and their families who have laid their lives on the line to defend our democracy.

“This hastily written amendment proves that the House Republicans are more interested in quickly passing their healthcare repeal, rather than taking the time to write carefully crafted policy. That is unacceptable when millions of Americans lives are at stake.”

Full video of the press conference can be found here.

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