Rosen worries about how GOP health bill would hurt Nevadans

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Wednesday, May 10, 2017 | 2 a.m.

In an event with a coalition of local organizations that aim to end domestic and sexual violence in the state, U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen said she is “extremely disappointed” with the Republican-led efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The House of Representatives last week passed a bill to interchange the ACA, or Obamacare, with the American Health Care Act championed by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Proponents of the ACA, which was signed into law by former President Barack Obama in 2010, argue that provisions in the new law would strip benefits from survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

The elderly, and lower and middle class Nevadans, also could be negatively affected, Rosen said at a southwest valley news conference Tuesday morning.

“We’re already aware of the disastrous implications that this legislation will have on all Nevada families,” Rosen said.

It isn’t exactly known what a final version of the law would look like, since it could be amended before coming up for a vote in the Senate, but proponents of the current plan say the measure could undermine medical and mental-health services to survivors of sexual and domestic crimes.

They also worry that the new provisions could affect how insurance companies deal with customers with pre-existing medical conditions, Rosen said, adding that those companies will be able to raise prices and widen the scope on what they consider to be a pre-existing condition.

Rollbacks to Medicaid would affect 21,000 Southern Nevadans in her district, Rosen said. Increased premiums could affect residents over age 50, in some cases making health care unaffordable, she added.

Changes to "essential protections" would affect more than half of her 740,000 constituents, Rosen said.

Without access to affordable care, the health and well-being of survivors of sexual and domestic violence are at risk, said Susan Meuschke, executive director of the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, citing strides made under Obamacare.

With the new law, victims may see a rollback on the progress and a possible increase in out-of-pocket costs relating to "vital" services currently available to them, Meuschke said.

Rosen criticized the way House Republicans went about passing the bill, not holding a single hearing or requesting input from the Congressional Budget Office, she said.

Proponents of Obamacare are still trying to figure out how the new law would affect Americans, she said.

CORRECTION: This version of the story corrects the name of the Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. | (May 10, 2017)