Farmers Across Hudson Valley Have a Message for John Faso: ‘Don’t Take Away Our Health Care’

by | Mar 22, 2017 | Press Releases

In A Letter Delivered Wednesday 75 Farmers in Rep. John Faso’s District Ask Him to Vote No on the American Health Care Act That Will Cut Their Care

Mid-Hudson Valley, NYWith a vote on Trump and the GOP’s contentious American Health Care Act scheduled for tomorrow, farmers from every corner of the district are urging Congressman John Faso, a member of the House Agricultural Committee, to vote “no” on the House bill.

Before the Affordable Care Act, many farmers were unable to afford the high prices of health coverage in New York’s individual market. But key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion, creation of the Essential Plan and federal subsidies, allowed farmers to purchase quality, affordable health insurance. Despite continuous public outcry, Faso cast the deciding vote in the House Budget Committee last week giving the bill enough support to the House floor. Under Trump Care over 80,000 people on average will lose coverage in each of New York’s congressional districts, including 65,800 in Rep. Faso’s district, many in the most rural parts of the farming district.

“I did not have insurance until the ACA passed and my employers were able to offer insurance through work,” said Erin Enouen of Long Season Farm in Kerhonkson. “The ACA isn’t perfect but the new plan is a huge step backward. My husband and I now pay $500 a month for insurance. Under the new plan, our out of pocket cost will go up by 35 percent! We built our business with the idea that insurance would affordable and continue to improve as we aged. Our business does depend on our health, which is only as good as the health care we can afford.”

“My family has exchange plans through Fidelis. We receive a subsidy and without it, we will go back to paying over $1,200 a month, which is what we paid before the ACA,” said Kimberley Hart of Starling Yards in Red Hook. “We take our health seriously and having access to preventative care is important in addition to catastrophic coverage if we were to have an accident on the farm. In addition, our employees receive health benefits through the Medicaid expansion which if taken away will force a large number of the hard working farm crew members to go without the safety net of a basic health plan.”

“I tore my ACL and was able to get surgery because I was on Medicaid,” said Megan Galeucia of Abode Farm in New Lebanon. “If I hadn’t I probably wouldn’t be able to farm.”

“My 36-year-old business and life partner was recently diagnosed with advanced stage pancreatic cancer,” said Madeleine Morley of Grass + Grit Farm in New Paltz. “He is currently receiving radiation and chemotherapy treatments, paid for by the insurance he gained through the Medicaid expansion. I honestly don’t know if he would be alive today, let alone hopeful of surviving this if it weren’t for Medicaid.”

The bill shifts nearly a trillion dollars in federal funding from the middle class and working families to wealthy people and health care corporations through tax breaks. In addition to the $465 billion in tax breaks to the insurance companies and drug manufacturers, the House Republicans want to scrap the 3.8 percent surtax on Wall Street investments and a 0.9 percent tax on incomes above $250,000 that help fund the ACA. Under the Republican proposal, the wealthiest 400 families in America will get a tax break of $7 million every year.

Faso’s district would take a huge financial hit, with counties in his district losing $17,041,282 in funding including losses of $2,935,566 in Ulster, $833,957 in Columbia, $2,974,044 in Dutchess and $832,298 in Greene County.

Click Here for the Letter.

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