New Yorkers Hold Candlelight Vigil Outside Westchester Medical Center to Mourn the Loss of Health Care Tax Credits
With Open Enrollment Ending, Many New Yorkers Are Seeing Their Health Insurance Premiums Skyrocket
VALHALLA, NEW YORK — Today, New Yorkers gathered outside Westchester Medical Center for a candlelight vigil to mourn the end of the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the month. With today being the last day New Yorkers can enroll in an insurance plan for coverage beginning on January 1st, many households are locking into plans with skyrocketing premiums, with some paying more than double what they previously did for the same coverage.
A House discharge petition is just four signatures away from forcing a vote on a three-year extension of the tax credits, and Hudson Valley residents have been pleading with their congressman to help get the measure over the finish line. Despite signing onto a letter last month in which he acknowledged that the loss of these tax credits would lead to a drastic spike in health care costs and cause millions of Americans to lose coverage, Congressman Mike Lawler has refused to support any plan that has a chance of succeeding. Instead, the Hudson Valley representative has been all talk and zero action, sitting for a string of cable news interviews to express his ‘deep concerns’ over rising health care costs while supporting a pair of competing plans that boast just 39 and 24 signatures, respectively—far short of the 218 needed.
New Yorkers gathered outside Westchester Medical Center for a candlelight vigil to mourn the end of the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits. | CREDIT: Empire State Voices
“Rep. Lawler claims that he cares about lowering our costs, but if he really did, wouldn’t he be supporting a plan that could actually succeed?” said Karen, a cancer survivor and tax credit recipient from Yorktown. “Because of the loss of the tax credits, I’ll be paying around $4,000 more in insurance premiums next year. If Mike Lawler has the opportunity to stop that from happening but chooses to do nothing, then he’s the one raising my health care costs, regardless of what he says on cable news. He needs to stop playing politics with our lives and support this 3-year extension, otherwise he’ll inflict serious pain on families across his district.”
“Congressman Lawler has shown us time and time again that he’s not serious about fixing this problem; he just wants us to think that he is,” said Dylan Wheeler, Regional Organizing Director for Empire State Voices. “If Rep. Lawler was truly concerned about insurance premiums spiking for thousands of Hudson Valley families, he would sign on to the discharge petition for a three-year extension and work to bring along three of his colleagues to get it over the finish line. Instead, he’s backing plans that have no chance of actually passing, all so that he can go on cable news, claim he’s fighting for us, and try to get credit without actually doing anything. I don’t know who he thinks that he’s fooling, but the people of the Hudson Valley see through his charade.”
To learn more about Empire State Voices, please reach out to press@empirestatevoices.org
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About Empire State Voices
Empire State Voices (ESV) is a multi-year campaign dedicated to amplifying the voices of everyday working New Yorkers. ESV is fighting for economic policies that make life more affordable for constituents and holding members of Congress across the state accountable when they fail to do the same.
