The following statement by AOA President Boyd R. Buser, DO, was issued in response to the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the proposed Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017.
“In light of the Congressional Budget Office analysis, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) reiterates its opposition to the Senate health care bill on the basis that it would cut coverage and access to 22 million more Americans over the next decade while failing to address the fundamental problem of rising health care costs.
Osteopathic physicians understand that controlling the cost of health care is a top priority in our collective effort to improve our nation’s health care system. As patient advocates, we cannot accept that under the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) patients in need will no longer have the coverage they require to access health care services. The BCRA does nothing to control health care costs but instead focuses on reducing federal health care expenditures by cutting coverage of our nation’s most vulnerable individuals and eliminating policies that promote access to the preventive care services that can actually drive down expenses while improving patient outcomes.
The AOA, a physician-led association advocating for nearly 130,000 DOs and osteopathic medical students, recognizes the many challenges our current health care system faces and is supportive of efforts to improve it. But we can see that the BCRA exacerbates the shortcomings of the current law and will harm the millions of Americans, especially the most vulnerable populations – from newborns to elderly nursing home residents – who depend on Medicaid.”