JACL Concerned by Order to Repeal ACA

WASHINGTON — The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is concerned by the recent executive order that confirms the Trump Administration’s policy “to seek the prompt repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” also known as Obamacare.

“The ACA has proven essential in supporting the welfare of millions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since being enacted in 2010,” the civil rights organization said in a statement. “Eliminating key provisions in the ACA would only serve to increase health disparities suffered by our community and others, such as lack of access to quality care due to financial or cultural barriers.

“The ACA has provided Americans with a number of benefits, including prohibiting the denial of coverage to infants, children, and adults based on pre-existing conditions; eliminating arbitrary annual and lifetime limits on coverage; extending coverage to young adults up to age 26 on their parents’ insurance plans; and Medicaid expansion.

“Immigrant communities in particular have benefited from the ACA thanks to (1) grants provided to community-based organizations to inform their constituents about health care, (2) funding for community health centers, (3) increasing access to home and community-based disability services, and (4) free or low-cost preventive services.

“The ACA has also laid the groundwork for more cost-effective services in the future by ensuring that data on health disparities be collected.

“Although imperfect, the ACA has created a system that has expanded access and reduced health care expenditures in the long term. To dismantle this system without protecting the above-mentioned key provisions of the ACA would be a step backwards, leading to an increase in the uninsured as well as undesirable health, economic, and social consequences, particularly for disadvantaged communities.”