Medicaid, the nation’s health care safety net, provides care to 70 million Americans. Repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have substantial consequences for this vulnerable population. According to a recent non-partisan study conducted by researchers at the George Washington University, repeal would lead to a doubling of the number of uninsured patients, higher uncompensated care costs for providers, and higher taxes for low-income Americans.
Repeal of the ACA would have even greater economic implications. Nationally 2.6 million jobs would be lost. Approximately one-third of those are in health care, but the majority are in construction, real estate, finance, insurance, and retail trade. Between 2019 and 2023, gross state products would fall by $1.5 trillion, while business output would be reduced by $2.6 trillion.
In Oregon, where I live, repeal of premium tax credits and Medicaid expansion would result in 45,000 jobs lost in the public and private sectors. Between 2019 to 2023, the gross state product would lose $24.9 billion, business output would lose $42.6 billion, and state and local taxes would lose $817.6 million.
Repeal of the ACA without adequate replacement policies is just bad medicine—not just for recipients—but for all of us.