WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, called the multi-hour Senate budget vote-a-rama “a staged opportunity for the Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and all of its patient protections without a plan to replace it.”

Senator Cardin:  “This wasn’t a real budget, but a scam to trigger budget reconciliation so Republicans can repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, leaving tens of millions of Americans without affordable health coverage. Millions in Maryland are at risk—not just the over 400,000 who gained insurance through Maryland Medicaid expansion and the state exchange. Patients’ rights have been protected and consumers have saved millions of dollars through such core ACA provisions as requiring insurance companies to cover adults and children with preexisting conditions, eliminating annual and lifetime limits, and allowing children to stay on their parents’ plan until they turn 26. Repealing the ACA will not only dissolve these patient protections, but it will eliminate critical financial assistance such as premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions. The Republican repeal of the ACA is an outrageous and reckless partisan move that will leave millions of middle-class Americans and small businesses at financial risk.”

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