Rallying the troops: Sanders outlines plan to combat Planned Parenthood cuts
Posted Friday, May 19, 2017 7:03 pm
Excerpts:
BRATTLEBORO — Bernie Sanders flew to Montana on Friday to help rally the American people against the American Health Care Act.
The AHCA was passed in the House on May 4. Twenty Republicans and all 193 Democrats in the House voted against it. The Senate, which has 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats has yet to see the bill.
"The Republicans are working on it behind closed doors," Sanders said. "There is no health care plan currently in the Senate."
Nearly three million women are currently relying on Planned Parenthood for healthcare, according to Sanders. In Vermont, Lucy Leriche, vice president of Public Policy Vermont for Planned Parenthood Northern New England, told the Reformer that under the new legislation, Planned Parenthood would no longer be able to serve Medicaid patients. Medicaid paitents make up 69 percent of Planned Parenthood's national patient base, according to Leriche. They make up 34 percent of the patients in New England and 47 percent in Vermont. In Brattleboro, 65 percent of the patients Planned Parenthood serves have an income of $17,820 or less.
Sanders said the bill would not only affect low income people but the elderly, many of whom live in nursing homes, as well. Perhaps most despicable to Sanders, is the $3 million in tax cuts the bill gives to corporations.
http://www.reformer.com/stories/rallying-the-troops-sanders-outlines-plan-to-combat-planned-parenthood-cuts,507912