INDIANAPOLIS – Exactly one year ago today, Senate Republicans’ attempt to pass a disastrous health care overhaul failed when Joe Donnelly and a bipartisan coalition voted it down. Yet even though their bill to dismantle the health care system was stopped, Republicans in Washington and Indiana have made it their mission to inflict as much damage as they can into the health care system for political gain in the year since.

A year ago today, Senate Republicans narrowly failed to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act, their companion to the House GOP bill to dismantle the health care system. Had it passed, the bill would have been a disastrous blow for Hoosiers’ health care:

• Health care costs would have soared by over $1,000 annually on average for Hoosiers, in addition to an “age tax” on older Americans that would allow insurers to charge them five time more than younger enrollees.
• Protections for pre-existing conditions would have been destroyed, as insurers could have jacked up health care costs to unaffordable levels for individuals with diabetes, asthma, or a cancer history.
• $800 billion would have been cut from Medicaid, gutting HIP 2.0, which nearly 400,000 Hoosiers depend on.

• Roughly 23 million Americans and more than 400,000 Hoosiers would have been stripped of health care within ten years of its passage.

Despite the bill failing on the Senate floor, Republicans have sought to sabotage the health care system at every step in the year since. From causing premiums to skyrocket by double-digits, to attempting to strip protections from millions of Hoosiers with pre-existing conditions, Republicans in Washington and Indiana continue to inject chaos into the health care system that puts Hoosiers at imminent risk.

Rep. Braun has supported Republicans’ attempts to overhaul the health care system and sabotage Hoosiers’ health care at every step. Most recently, he failed to speak up in support of Hoosiers and against a lawsuit now supported by the Department of Justice and spearheaded by Indiana and 19 other Republican-led states that would strip away protections from Americans with pre-existing conditions. Time and again, he’s failed to say what steps he’d take to defend Hoosiers who have an imminent risk of losing their health care thanks to his party’s actions.

“A year after the Senate’s failed health care overhaul, Republicans like Rep. Braun are dead set on continuing their mission to strip health care away from millions of Hoosiers,” said Michael Feldman, spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party. “Instead of trying to help Hoosiers who face an imminent risk of losing their health care due to the GOP’s reckless actions, Rep. Braun would rather listen to Mitch McConnell and his allies in Washington over the people he supposedly wants to represent.”

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