Gregorio Sablan: “I oppose the American Health Care Act because it fails to increase coverage for 3.8 million Americans in the insular…”

“I oppose the American Health Care Act because it fails to increase coverage for 3.8 million Americans in the insular areas: American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and my own district, the Mariana Islands. President Trump promised, ``Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now,'' but that is not happening. Instead of taking the opportunity to take care of all Americans, the American Health Care Act ignores the insular areas: We are not included in the new Medicaid per capita funding proposal. As a matter of fact, in a year, we would see our Medicare funding reduced by 68 percent. We are not included in the new Patient and State Stability Fund. And the new tax credit for insurance premiums is actually a new cost, an unfunded Federal mandate, imposed by Congress on territorial governments. Everyone in this Chamber wants affordable, quality health care for all Americans. This bill fails to do that. So let us begin again. Let us work together on legislation to reach the goal the President has set and many of us share: insurance for everyone, not just the rich.”