We all know about that the American Health Care Act was passed by House of Representatives yesterday. The AHCA was basically he same bill that Speaker Paul Ryan couldn’t get approval for in March. The sticking point there was the proposed  Pre-Existing Conditions plank of the bill. After creative minds got over that hurdle, and some arm-twisting, 217 Republican representatives voted to approve the bill.

We must realize that the ACA is still the law of the land. It will be until the Senate and the House agree on one bill.  That is not going to happen soon. It might not happen at all.

The word from the Senate is that they are going to take their time to write their own version if the bill.  The Senate will wait to see how the Congressional Budget Office scores the bill the House just approved; the House didn’t wait to see how their votes would affect their constituents.

The Senate will probably change their focus from Pre-Existing Conditions to Medicaid. The House bill eliminates Medicaid Expansion, which affects thirty-two states, New York being one of them. More than 76,000 NY-23rd residents receive Medicaid Expansion funds totaling more than $11 million. For a County break down follow this link. The Senators may care more for the well being of their constituents that their counterparts in the House.

There are other issues that concern the Senators. We can expect their bill to be different that the House’s. After they approve their AHCA, if they approve it, the House will have to either vote to accept it or both chambers will try to compromise on one bill. That compromise must also be voted on.

This is where we come in.

It is very likely that the House will have to vote on this bill a second time. We need to keep pressure on our congressman–not that he is going to change his mind–but to keep the public informed on the Health Care Issues. We need to keep going to the Town Hall Meetings, rallying at Rep. Reed’s Offices, writing letters to the editor, and engage in social media activities. We need to keep having Post Card parties. We need to get more people to call Reed’s Offices. We can contact newly registered voters and those who did not vote last November. Health Care affects people from all parties.

We have at least five democrats seriously talking about running against Rep.Reed in November, 2018. They will soon be criss-crossing our district. We need to meet them and try to get as many others to meet them too. Contact your County Democratic Chairs to get involved. (Also, we will be having campaigns for local elections.)

We need to let the voters know that they will have choice. Issues are personal. Our representative voted to:

• Cut 76,000 NY23rd-ers from Medicaid
• Cut more than $11 million of federal Medicaid funds to NY23rd Counties
• To allow insurance companies change seniors up to 5 times more than 18 year olds for the very same policy
• Allow insurance companies to sell policies without: Outpatient Care, Hospitalization, Maternity and new born care, Mental health services, addiction treatment, prescription drugs, rehabilitative service and devices, Laboratory services, Wellness services, Chronic disease treatments, and Pediatric services
• Encourage people to use Emergency Rooms instead of going to a primary care provider.
• To Exempt Congress and their staff from having to use the AHCA health care
• To give people making over $200,000 (or couple over $250,000) a huge tax cut.

President Trump and the 217 House members may be celebrating their “victory”, the race is not over.