Washington, D.C. — Tonight, Donald Trump tried to sell the country on affordability during his State of the Union address, but the state of Americans’ health care is in shambles. For the past year, Trump and Congressional Republicans have carried out an unprecedented assault on our health care, slashing over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to finance tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. Then, Republicans voted to lock in massive premium hikes and ripped away the ACA tax credits, pricing over 1 million Americans out of coverage this year alone, and forcing millions more to make impossible decisions to keep their health care.
Trump tried to deflect from his health care crisis with empty promises to lower drug prices, but the truth is that his initiatives have failed to deliver lower prices for patients. Hospitals are cutting services or shutting down completely. Parents are postponing doctors’ appointments. Families are opening premium bills that cost more than their mortgage. The fallout all lands on Republicans’ shoulders.
“‘Affordability’ may be a hoax to Donald Trump, but for hard-working families struggling to pay the bills, it’s a matter of survival,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “It’s whether a senior can fill a heart medication without cutting pills in half. It’s whether a parent can afford to take their child to the doctor. It’s whether a family has to choose between groceries and cancer treatment.
“Trump cannot talk about relief while families watch their premiums spike. And he certainly cannot campaign on affordability after slashing over $1 trillion from our health care system, forcing hospitals to close and making it harder and more expensive for Americans to see a doctor in the first place. Words on a stage do not make health care affordable. Actions do. And on that, the American people are still waiting, and come election time, they will remember who left families in the dust.”