Nassau County Democratic legislators and allied groups like Planned Parenthood on Tuesday sharply criticized a Republican congressional effort to replace the Affordable Care Act and called on County Executive Edward Mangano to initiate a study to measure the impact of repealing the 2010 health law.
“Repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with Trump’s alternative is going to drive a massive hole in the county budget while leaving more residents uninsured and without the benefits of preventative care,” said Laura Curran, a Democratic county legislator and candidate for county executive.
“So that the county is prepared for these massive changes, County Executive Mangano, county commissioners, and department administrators must immediately start preparing a report that outlines the real impact of losing the Affordable Care Act and what it will mean for Nassau taxpayers.”
Last Friday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, issued an executive order calling on health and social services officials to determine how the repeal of the act, known as Obamacare, will affect his constituents.
In response to a query, Mangano’s office did not say whether it intends to conduct such a study.
“We are monitoring the impact of the bill as significant debate continues on the Hill,” said Eric Naughton, the deputy county executive for finance.
An attempt to reach Mangano was unavailing.
Curran said one of every 10 Nassau residents, a total of 333,000 people, would lose their health insurance under a replacement bill put forward by congressional Republicans.
The bill, the American Health Care Act, is expected to come up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives as soon as Thursday.
According to a report issued by New York governor’s office in January, Nassau County stands to lose $17,866,829 in funding, which “goes directly to counties and helps to lower property taxes.”
“The more we learn about the repeal and replacement for the Affordable Care Act, the sicker New York gets,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. “The repeal and replace act would block grant money to the state in the name of local flexibility but at the same time it would dramatically cut that funding. Over four years New York State would lose $4.6 billion and lose at least $2.4 billion a year by fiscal year 2020.”
Upstate Republican Congressmen Chris Collins and John Faso have introduced an amendment to the American Health Care Act that would ban federal reimbursement for state Medicaid funds for local governments outside of New York City, cutting Medicaid for these local governments by $2.3 billion, Cuomo said in a statement.
Speaking of the amendment’s potential shift of the tax burden from county governments to the state, Curran said, “It’s the same taxpayer dollars. There is not magical Albany money; it’s still coming from local taxpayers.”
“The repeal of the Affordable Care Act will deprive Long Islanders’ access to affordable healthcare that can be a matter of life and death,” said Lisa Tyson, executive director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition. “Nassau County residents deserve to know how losing the Affordable Care Act might affect their family both financially and physically.”
JoAnn Smith, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Nassau County, said the proposed Republican legislation will effectively defund her organization because patients who lose Medicaid will no longer have access to Planned Parenthood’s services.
“Repealing the Affordable Care Act and defunding Planned Parenthood will mean that many women – across the country and right here in Nassau County – who receive their care at Planned Parenthood health centers won’t receive care at all,” she said. “We are calling on Congress to stop these political attacks, but, until they do, Planned Parenthood will leave no stone unturned in fighting back for our patients and ensuring that our doors stay open.”
