Medicare is the federal insurance program that provides health insurance for (mostly) senior citizens.

Medicaid is the federal-state program that helps provide health care to low income children, long-term care and nursing home care for seniors and people with special needs, and Americans that cannot afford health care.

The Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — is the health care reform law that provided quality health care for millions of Americans, stopped insurance companies from discriminating against people who had pre- existing conditions and forced them to offer plans that provide better coverage for many critical services like prescriptions, lab tests, and newborn care.

All three are perpetually under attack from the right wing whose main goal is to let corporations decide who has health care in the United States. House Republicans passed a horrible bill called the American Health Care Act (AHCA) that provided hundreds of billions in tax cuts to the rich by taking away coverage from 23 million people. AHCA undermines Medicare’s trust fund to pay for outlandish tax cuts for the rich, threatening the health care of tens of millions of seniors who paid into Medicare and count on it. Every middle-class family that ever needs long-term care will be harmed as Medicaid funding is slashed. Medicaid pays the lion’s share of the cost for long-term care.

No working family is spared by this mean-spirited bill as more people lose coverage and the cost of health care rises for everyone, including the over 150 million Americans who have health care coverage from their employers. Under this bill, we will return to the days where the uninsured must use the emergency room to gain access to the health care system, thus raising the cost of health care for those with insurance because their plans will have to help pay for emergency, uncompensated care.

Many of the regulations that prevented the insurance industry from taking unfair advantage would be repealed. It will put more of the burden on you to pay for long-term care for your loved ones. Also, your benefits could be taxed in the future under this bill.

President Trump, as a candidate, told Americans that he supports the promises made to them on keeping Medicare, saying cuts to this vital program for senior citizens would not be fair to the millions of Americans who have paid into it for decades. He also said he would oppose cuts to Medicaid.

The AHCA bill:

• Allows discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions, allowing insurance companies to deny them desperately needed coverage for treatments for life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, cancer and dialysis.
• Puts 23 million Americans at risk for losing their health care coverage over the next decade, according to neutral experts and the Congressional Budget Office.
• Undermines Medicare’s trust fund to pay for these outlandish tax cuts, threatening the health care of tens of millions of seniors who paid into Medicare and count on it. Every middle-class family that ever needs long-term care will be harmed if Medicaid funding is slashed. Medicaid pays the lion’s share of the cost for long-term care.
• Taxes good health insurance plans. In 2025, wealthy Americans will get tax breaks and working men and women will bear the cost under this bad bill.
• Raises premiums on Americans age 50 to 64 by up to $13,000 a year, according to the American Association of Retired Persons’ (AARP) Public Policy Institute.

Senate Republicans are now writing a similar bill. Democrats remain solidly opposed, along with groups such as unions, the AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, and many others.