The U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee passed a GOP 2019 Budget Plan along party-lines that would cut $537 billion from Medicare and cause $2.6 trillion in reductions to programs which help economically vulnerable Americans.
The GOP Chairman of the Budget Committee, Steve Womack, said that the plan would result in a brighter American future, while a Democratic member of the committee from Kentucky, Rep. John Yarmuth, said that the budget plan placed the burden of deficit reduction on “middle-class and struggling families”.
The plan also assumed that the Affordable Care Act would be repealed which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would deprive 23 million Americans of health care coverage by 2026.
We are concerned about policies which make it harder for disabled persons to receive medical treatment and support while they wait nearly two and a half years for their Social Security disability claims to be resolved. We are also concerned about weakening Medicare which provides health insurance for disabled Americans who are receiving Social Security disability benefits for more than 29 months. 2018 is an election year in which every member of the House of Representatives is up for re-election.
We urge all eligible Arizonans to register to vote and to vote in the 2018 election. Ask your Congressional candidates what their budgetary priorities are and consider their responses as you decide whom to support. There are many issues to weigh in deciding which candidate to support, but for persons living with disabilities access to health care should certainly be one.