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affordable care act

By Masao Suzuki

Repeal of Affordable Care Act takes insurance from 32 million, double individual premiums

San José, CA – On July 19, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that the Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA (also known as Obamacare), without a replacement would leave 32 million more Americans without health insurance. The Republican Senate leadership put forward this bill, officially known as the “Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act of 2017” after their “Repeal and Replace” bill could not muster 50 Republican votes.

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By Masao Suzuki

Republicans in Congress have already voted to cut the taxes that pay for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Up to now these tax cuts have been vetoed by President Obama. But with the inauguration of Donald Trump, Republicans in the Senate and House will be free to cut ACA taxes and give hundreds of billions of dollars to the richest Americans.

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By Masao Suzuki

Commentary by Masao Suzuki

One of the first things that Donald Trump said that he would do as president is repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare. The ACA has dramatically reduced the number of Americans without health insurance, from more than 41 million in 2013 to less than 29 million two years later, a drop of 13 million people. A repeal of the ACA would increase the number of uninsured by 20 million people, so the that number of uninsured would rise to record levels.

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By Masao Suzuki

San José, CA – On Nov. 19, President Obama stated in an interview at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council that he was willing to go along with the piecemeal approach to immigration reform advocated by Republicans in the House of Representatives. Obama said that he wanted all the parts put forward by the Senate bill, which include legalization, more militarization of the border, expansion of temporary worker programs, expansion of workplace enforcement and shifting legal immigration from family reunification to employment and education-based visas to meet the needs of business.

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By Masao Suzuki

San José, CA – On Oct. 1, millions of Americans without health insurance overloaded the opening of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or so-called Obamacare) online exchanges. Almost 3 million people tried to log on to the national www.healthcare.gov web site, while the California web site www.coveredca.com had more than 5 million hits.

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By Masao Suzuki

San José, CA – At midnight on Oct. 1, the federal government began a partial shutdown. Later that morning, hundreds of thousands of federal workers showed up to wind up work – putting up closed signs at national parks and monuments across the country and updating web pages saying that many functions were no longer available. Then they went home for an indefinite furlough without pay.

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