Lofgren, Panetta, Liccardo Highlight Impact of Republicans’ Healthcare Crisis on Bay Area
SAN JOSE, CA – Bay Area U.S. Representatives Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), and Sam Liccardo (CA-16) joined local healthcare executives and residents of Santa Clara County to discuss the Republican healthcare crisis and the need to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits.
“House Republicans have been on vacation for over a month while Americans have been getting notices that their healthcare premiums are soaring,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren. “If anyone else didn't show up to their job for a month when they knew there's urgent business to deal with, they'd lose that job. Folks in my district are seeing their healthcare costs doubling; thousands will be unable to afford insurance at all. Speaker Johnson needs to call Congress back to DC so we can pass a budget that deals with this healthcare crisis and reopens the government.”
“Even though the Republicans are in charge of the House, Senate, and White House, they refuse to negotiate to restore healthcare for working families. As Americans start to receive notices that their healthcare premiums are significantly increasing and as Medicaid recipients, rural hospitals, nursing homes, and community healthcare clinics brace for the largest cut to Medicaid in its history, all due to the Republican purely partisan One Big Beautiful Bill law, pressure should build on Republicans and the White House to get back to the negotiating table with Democrats. If not, this shutdown will quickly get beyond political, and become very personal as people start to lose paychecks, working families start to lose healthcare, and Congress, the Senate, and the President lose credibility. It is well past time for the leadership in both parties to come together and do its job to get the government open, protect healthcare, and lower costs for working families,” said Rep. Jimmy Panetta.
“Families feel the squeeze from every direction. By extending the ACA tax credits, we can help 24,000 of our local neighbors keep their coverage and lower health costs,” said Rep. Sam Liccardo.
Across California’s 16th, 18th, and 19th Districts, 78,000 people will see their healthcare costs rise if Republicans let ACA tax credits expire and nearly 100,000 people will lose health coverage because of Republican cuts to Medicaid (also known in California as Medi-Cal). If ACA tax credits expire, constituents of California’s 16th, 18th, and 19th Districts can see their annual premiums increase by up to 1,135%.
Video of the press conference at Gardner Health Center in San Jose can be found here.
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