Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is making a public push to voters to call on their elected members of Congress to allow the Affordable Care Act to remain. Poloncarz sent an email to constituents this morning detailing Erie County statistics in regards to the ACA.
The email concludes with a list of all Western New York-area members of the House of Representatives and the phone numbers to their Washington D.C. offices.
His email follows in its entirety:
Last Week, Republicans in the House of Representatives took the first steps to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare,” without introducing any legislation to replace or fix it. Repeal of the ACA will strip health insurance from millions of Americans, including over 93,000 Erie County residents. It is a cold, stark and heartless beginning to the New Year and clearly demonstrates what is important to the incoming administration and the majority in Congress. It is an ill-advised, unnecessary and destructive choice to make.
The ACA has been a lifesaver for millions of low-income individuals across the country, and has helped countless families to access high-quality yet affordable health care.
Here in Erie County, due to the ACA’s reimbursement formula, 40,000 more residents are covered by Medicaid while the County’s actual Medicaid costs have gone down. Repeal of the ACA would immediately result in these individuals losing their healthcare coverage, just some of the over 93,000 county residents who would be adversely affected by this short-sighted stunt.
In addition, repealing the ACA would have serious budgetary impacts at the state and local level, with NYS losing as much as $3.7 billion in federal reimbursements while our Medicaid Inspector General’s Office estimates Erie County could lose as much as $17 million in revenue annually. The county will be forced to cut elsewhere or raise taxes to make up the difference in lost assistance if the ACA is repealed. The above mentioned far-reaching negative effects on public health and our economy have been ignored in the rush to repeal.
We are a stronger community when we are a healthier community, and any attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act will hurt the overall health and welfare of our County.
I ask you to join me and contact your representative in Congress and tell them repealing the Affordable Care Act without passing any legislation to replace it is a heartless action. We deserve better as a community and a nation. Contact information for each of Upstate New York’s Congressional representatives is below.
Sincerely yours,
Mark Poloncarz
CD 18: Sean Patrick Maloney (D) – 202-225-5441
CD 19: John Faso (R) – 202-225-5614
CD 20: Paul Tonko (D) – 202-225-5076
CD 21: Elise Stefanik (R) – 202-225-4611
CD 22: Claudia Tenney (R) – 202-225-3665
CD 23: Tom Reed (R) – 202-225-3161
CD 24: John Katko (R) – 202-225-3701
CD 25: Louise Slaughter (D) – 202-225-3615
CD 26: Brian Higgins (D) – 202-225-3306
CD 27: Chris Collins (R) – 202-225-5265
All WNY is made possible thanks to coffee and sleep deprivation.
We appreciate your readership. We like money, too.
