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<h3 style="text-align: center;">AHCA Demise Preserves Obamacare but Congress Needs to Improve ACA to Serve All</h3>
<span class="drop_cap">B</span>efore Friday March 24, 2017’s non-vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA), Republican Congressmen <a href="https://lance.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lance-statement-on-the-american-health-care-act-0"><strong>Leonard Lance</strong></a> (NJ-7), <a href="https://lobiondo.house.gov/"><strong>Frank LoBiondo</strong></a> (NJ-2), <a href="http://chrissmith.house.gov/"><strong>Chris Smith</strong></a> (NJ-4) and <strong><a href="https://frelinghuysen.house.gov/">Rodney Frelinghuysen</a></strong> (NJ-11) stated that they would vote “no.”

Only Republican <a href="https://macarthur.house.gov/"><strong>Congressman Tom MacArthur</strong></a> (NJ-3) stated he would support the legislation. All New Jersey’s Democratic members opposed the AHCA.

<a href="https://frelinghuysen.house.gov/top-news/statement-of-rep-rodney-frelinghuysen-on-american-health-care-act/"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-34468" src="http://monarchhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/RodneyFrelinghuysen-300x300.jpeg" alt="Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen" width="300" height="300"></a>We thank New Jersey’s four Republican Congressmen for their leadership and willingness to join New Jersey’s Democratic members in opposing the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) known as Obamacare with the AHCA.

Repealing Obamacare was a high priority for President Trump and the Republican party.

However, as we reported - <strong><a class="yoast-link-suggestion__value" href="http://monarchhousing.org/2017/02/06/repealing-aca-catastrophic-n-j-families/" target="_blank">Repealing ACA Would be Catastrophic to N.J. Families</a></strong> would have been devastating on NJ.

<a href="https://www.njpp.org/"><strong>New Jersey Policy Perspective</strong></a> analyzed the current numbers of uninsured in New Jersey and the <a href="http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/500000_nj_residents_would_lose_insurance_under_rep.html"><strong>anticipated increase following the potential passing of the AHCA</strong></a>.

This data is available by each of the state’s congressional districts. The largest increases would have incurred in the Republican districts.

<a href="http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/500000_nj_residents_would_lose_insurance_under_rep.html"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35733" src="http://monarchhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/UnisuredbyCD.png" alt="" width="618" height="554"></a>Obamacare remains the law of the land. But the question now is this, will the Trump Administration which stopped advertising the healthcare exchanges <a href="http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/03/trump_in_childish_tantrum_threatens_to_wreck_obama.html"><strong>undermine the existing law with changes in regulations</strong></a>?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">There are 1,442 citations in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ACA?src=hash">#ACA</a> where it says “The Secretary shall…” or “The Secretary may…” <a href="https://twitter.com/HHSGov">@HHSGov</a>, we’ll look at every single one.</p>
— Tom Price, M.D. (@SecPriceMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPriceMD/status/842758846816964608">March 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Last Friday, <a href="https://lance.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lance-statement-on-the-american-health-care-act-0"><strong>Congressman Lance</strong></a> called on his congressional colleagues, “Democrats in Congress need to come to the table. They passed Obamacare into law. They need to help with the solution that all our constituents deserve.”

President Trump and others have echoed this call.

But if bi-partisanship is to work, its success needs to be based on lessons learned from seven years of Obamacare.

As David Frum wrote in <strong><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/the-republican-waterloo/520833/">The Atlantic</a></strong> in a post “<em><strong><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/the-republican-waterloo/520833/">The Republican Waterloo</a></strong></em>,” that “America committed itself for the first time to the principle of universal (or near universal) health-care coverage. That principle has had seven years to work its way into American life and into the public sense of right and wrong. It’s not yet unanimously accepted. But it’s accepted by enough voters—and especially by enough Republican voters—to render impossible the seven-year Republican vision of removing that coverage from those who have gained it under the Affordable Care Act. Paul Ryan still upholds the right of Americans to ‘choose’ to go uninsured if they cannot afford to pay the cost of their insurance on their own. His country no longer agrees.”

All our citizens deserve an affordable place to call home and health insurance that they can afford but also covers all their essential health services. Only then will we all have the freedom to work, raise our families and grow our economy.

Join us join us for the <a href="http://monarchhousing.org/cr17/"><strong>2017 Congressional Reception</strong></a> to advocate that Mr. Trump and Congress to not only ensure the highest level of funding possible for affordable housing but also for protect universal healthcare.
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="md-button color-blue" href="http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/03/trump_in_childish_tantrum_threatens_to_wreck_obama.html"> Tom Moran on Trump’s Options </a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="md-button color-blue" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/the-republican-waterloo/520833/"> GOP’s Waterloo </a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="md-button color-blue" href="http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/500000_nj_residents_would_lose_insurance_under_rep.html"> Impact of AHCA on NJ </a></p>
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