Murray highlights successes of ACA and how they have built on the landmark law to further lower health care premiums and prescription drug costs
Washington State Fact Sheet Shows How Republican Calls to Repeal the ACA Jeopardizes Health Care for Millions of People Across WA—MORE HERE
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s remarks***
Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this Saturday, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), spoke at a press conference with Senate and House leaders to highlight record-breaking ACA enrollment and how Democrats have built on the successes of the ACA, and speak out against Donald Trump threatening to repeal the ACA in a second term. Trump recently vowed that we would “never give up” on repealing the Affordable Care Act, calling the failure to repeal the ACA during his term “a low point for the Republican party,” and he has continued to double down on those comments. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have signaled their openness to repealing the ACA in recent months. As the Ranking Member of the Senate Health Committee under the Trump Administration, Senator Murray led the fight against repeated Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
In Washington state, more than 270,000 people are enrolled in ACA marketplace coverage, and over 822,000 are newly enrolled in Medicaid thanks to expansion under the ACA. More people are now receiving health care coverage under the ACA than ever before—and Senator Murray has worked to build on the ACA further. While Chair of the Senate Health Committee, Murray authored provisions that lowered health care premiums in the American Rescue Plan and in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA); the IRA also allowed Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug costs for the first time ever and included provisions Murray helped lead to cap the cost of insulin. The Inflation Reduction Act has lowered annual premiums for people who buy their own coverage by an average of $2,400 per family and has saved the average 60-year-old couple with a household income of $75,000 approximately $1,900 in monthly premiums for Marketplace coverage.
The consequences of repealing the ACA would touch nearly every household in the country. In Washington state, over 3 million individuals with pre-existing conditions would lose critical protections, nearly 2 million people would lose the coverage they pay less than $10 a month for, and 50,000 people under the age of 26 would lose access to their parents’ insurance. More on what ACA repeal would mean for Washington state is HERE.
“The ACA has helped hundreds of millions of people get coverage—record numbers just this past year. But Republicans still do not get it—or they just don’t care,” said Senator Murray. “Because, even now, the leader of the Republican party—Donald Trump—is promising to end the Affordable Care Act, and rip care away from countless patients. This is not my first rodeo when it comes to Republicans hell-bent on destroying families’ health care. I was the top Democrat on the Health committee during the Trump years, fighting back as Republicans did everything they could to overturn and undermine the Affordable Care Act. My message to Republicans on this ACA anniversary is simple: don’t test us. Democrats have been here before—we stood firm, we stood with patients and families, and we won.”
As the Ranking Member of the Senate, Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee during the Trump Administration, Senator Murray led countless efforts to stop Republicans’ from undermining families’ health care and to address and reverse damaging Trump Administration health care policies. She was a leading voice in the successful opposition to Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and a constant critic of President Trump and Republicans’ efforts to sabotage Americans’ health care. On the frontline against Republicans health care attacks, she led legislative efforts to restore funding to the Trump Administration slashed for the Navigator program, pushed to extend open enrollment in light of efforts by the Trump Administration to undermine it, called out efforts to undermine Medicaid, helped forced a vote attempting to reverse a Trump rule promoting junk health plans, and was a vocal critic of the Republican lawsuit—championed by President Trump—to try and strike down the entire ACA.
Senator Murray’s full remarks as delivered are below:
“Thank you. As we all know, the ACA has helped hundreds of millions of people get coverage—record numbers just this past year. But Republicans still do not get it—or they just don’t care.
“Because, even now, the leader of the Republican party—Donald Trump—is promising to end the Affordable Care act, and rip care away from countless people.
“And, as always, Republicans are pretty much ready to fall in line—Senator Cruz already agreed he would quote “love to revisit” ACA repeal.
“Let’s be clear what that means: ripping health care coverage away from people, sending costs skyrocketing, ending protections for pre-existing conditions. And of course, there is no replacement—there never was.
“Look—this is not my first rodeo when it comes to Republicans bent on destroying families’ health care. Far from it!
“I was Ranking Member of the Health committee during the Trump years, fighting back as they did everything they could to overturn and undermine the Affordable Care Act.
“Thank goodness—we won. But I remember just how dangerously close they got.
“And make no mistake—even without a full repeal, the endless Republican sabotage was catastrophic. We saw the uninsured rate spike in the Trump years—And that was by Republicans’ own design!
“And now, despite how painful that was for families—Trump and Republicans are gearing up to do it again.
“Well—my message to Republicans on this ACA anniversary is simple: do not test us. Do not test us.
“Democrats have been here before—we stood firm, we stood with patients and families, and we won.
“Not to mention, we made health insurance more affordable for millions when we passed the Inflation Reduction Act.
“So the difference is pretty clear—Republicans will make health care worse and more expensive. Democrats will make it better and lower costs. Thank you.”
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