SACRAMENTO (May 4, 2017) - Frank Mecca, Executive Director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California, today issued the following statement on the passage of the American Health Care Act by the U.S. House of Representatives:

“Through its actions today, the House majority demonstrated its lack of respect for basic principles of societal decency. The bill’s harsh cuts target nearly everyone, but will hit the poorest, sickest, and most vulnerable Americans hardest of all.

“Though most attention has been paid to the changes to coverage of essential health benefits and insurers’ ability to charge higher premiums to sicker customers under the bill, the AHCA would decimate coverage under Medicaid – known as Medi-Cal in California – in a number of ways. It would do this not just by rolling back the unprecedented and highly successful expansion of coverage to non-elderly, non-disabled adults without children, but by changing or eliminating a number of longstanding policies that would negatively affect everyone our program serves.

“We urge the Senate to reject this morally bankrupt legislation. The Affordable Care Act isn’t perfect, but its problems can be fixed without causing such reckless harm to millions of Americans.”