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Healthcare Workers Sound Alarm on 'Devastating' Impact of AHCA on Massachusetts

Boston, MA (May 24, 2017) – In response to today’s release of the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the American Health Care Act, Tyrék D. Lee, Sr., Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, issued the following statement:

“The latest CBO score further highlights the catastrophic impact this bill will have on 23 million hardworking Americans, just to give a massive tax cut to the very wealthy. The consequences for Massachusetts will be particularly devastating – gutting Medicaid, throwing the state’s largest industry into chaos and causing 445,000 Bay State residents to lose their healthcare coverage.

For more than a decade, Massachusetts has been a leader with our pioneering efforts on universal healthcare. This shared commitment and ongoing collaboration among all stakeholders has produced significant health and economic gains for our state and has resulted in the lowest uninsured rate in the nation. The AHCA and Trump Administration’s desire to provoke instability in the healthcare market threatens to undo all of this progress.

As healthcare workers, we understand what is at stake, and we will continue to mobilize with our community partners to fight back against this assault on healthcare and working families. We urge Congress to consider the potentially life-threatening ramifications of this bill that will harm millions of children, families and seniors and find a bipartisan approach to strengthen and improve the healthcare system we have now."

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Representing more than 56,000 healthcare workers throughout Massachusetts and over 450,000 workers on the East Coast, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. Our mission is to achieve affordable, high quality healthcare for all. 1199SEIU is part of the 2.1 million member Service Employees International Union.