A group of Senate Democrats warned President Trump Friday that any effort to repeal Obamacare would pull $5.5 billion in one year for addiction and mental health services.
The letter from 23 senators comes as Republicans work on legislation to repeal the law but leave it intact for a few years until a replacement is created. The senators say repealing the Affordable Care Act without any replacement would cut $5.5 billion from states each year.
“Repealing this law will cut billions of dollars in funding, kick tens of millions of Americans off of their health insurance, and saddle providers with hundreds of millions of dollars more in uncompensated care,” it said.
The senators pointed to remarks from two former Obama administration officials who said repealing the law’s mental health and substance use disorder coverage provisions would withdraw “at least $5.5 billion annually from the treatment of low-income people with mental and substance abuse disorders.”
“To make matters worse, repealing the [Affordable Care Act] would mean that more than 1.2 million people with serious mental illness and 2.2 million people with substance use disorders will lose some or all of their coverage,” the letter added.
Senators pointed to Obamacare requirements that preventive services such as depression and addiction screenings are provided for free to patients.
They also referred to bipartisan legislation passed last year called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act that authorized new programs to combat abuse.
It noted that the 21st Century Cures Act passed last year also included “critical mental health and substance use disorder reforms.”
Repealing the law could set back the progress created by those laws, the senators said.
The move comes as four Senate and House panels aim to get legislation in by April at the latest to gut Obamacare. The plan is to leave parts of the law intact for a few years while a replacement is crafted and approved.
